LIBRARY 


OWFOftW* 

SRN  DM 


AMERICAN  LITERATURE 


BY 


JULIAN   W.   ABEENETHY,   Pn.D. 

,« 

PRINCIPAL   OF  THE   BERKELKY    INSTITUTE.    BROOKLYN 


NEW   YORK 

MAYNARD,  MERRILL,  &  CO. 
1905 


COPYRIGHT.  1902, 
BY  MAYNAUD,   MERRILL,   &  CO. 


PREFACE 

A  TEXT-BOOK  of  literature  is  only  a  guide-book, 
which  should  always  supplement,  but  never  super 
sede,  the  literature  itself.  It  should  present  a  syste 
matic  plan  of  study,  and  furnish  a  brief  account  of 
the  growth  of  literature  as  a  part  of  national  history, 
with  such  biographical  and  critical  material  as  is 
necessary  to  make  the  interpretation  of  texts  intelli 
gible,  interesting,  and  profitable.  Such  a  guide-book 
is  intended  in  this  text-book  of  American  literature. 

It  will  be  seen  at  once  that  there  is  an  unusual 
apportionment  of  space.  The  more  recent  literature, 
which  is  generally  dismissed  in  a  few  final  para 
graphs,  or  ignored  altogether,  here  receives  liberal 
treatment.  A  prominence  corresponding  to  its  ac 
knowledged  interest  and  value  is  given  to  Southern 
literature,  and  an  attempt  is  made  to  do  justice  to 
our  historians. 

A  class  in  literature  should  do  much  more  than  the 
work  of  the  class-room ;  therefore  two  lists  of  selec 
tions  are  provided  for  each  important  author,  one^for 
critical  study,  the  other  for  rapid  outside  reading; 

3 


4  PREFACE 

the  two  should  be  used  together,  even  though  time 
will  not  permit  the  completion  of  both.  Also  judi 
cious  and  definite  selections  from  the  biography  and 
criticism  should  be  made  for  the  class  by  the  teacher. 
It  is  hoped  that  the  lists  for  the  historical  background 
will  lead  to  a  closer  correlation  of  literature  and  his 
tory  than  is  usually  secured.  The  lists  of  illustrative 
literature  are  merely  suggestive  of  the  valuable  mate 
rial  that  any  well-equipped  teacher  can  provide.  The 
books  included  in  the  list  at  the  end  of  the  volume 
constitute  an  adequate  and  fairly  complete  library  of 
biography  and  criticism  for  American  literature.  One 
hundred  of  these  books,  at  least,  should  be  possessed 
by  every  school. 

The  method  of  judging  authors  by  their  peers,  by 
.means  of  brief  and  pithy  quotations  embodied  in  the 
text,  will,  it  is  believed,  prove  of  special  interest 
and  value  to  the  student.  The  author's  acknowledg 
ments  are  due  to  the  many  authors  and  publishers 
from  whose  books  he  has  made  excerpts  for  this 
purpose. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER   I.     THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD 

I'AttK  PAOK 

English  and  American  Lit-  The  New  England  Preach- 

erature !)       ers 33 

Cavaliers  and  Roundheads  Jonathan  Edwards  ...  43 

in  America 15    Colonial  Poetry    ....  47 

Historical  Background.     .  57 

CHAPTER   II.     PERIOD  OF  THE  REVOLUTION 

Era  of  New  Ideas     ...  59    Revolutionary  Poetry   .     .     87 
Orators  of  the  Revolution  63    Charles  Brockden  Brown  .     99- 
Benjamin  Franklin  .     .     .  (57'' Historical  Background.     .  105 
The  Revolutionary  States 
men    79  - 

CHAPTER   III.     THE  KNICKERBOCKER  WRITERS 

-   Period  of  Expansion      .     .   107  James  Fenimore  Cooper  .  144  ' 

-« Washington  Irving  '.     .     .  Ill  Nathaniel  Parker  Willis  .  155- 

.    William  Cullen  Bryant      .  127  Historical  Background .  .  159 
Halleck,  Drake,  and  Dana  137 

CHAPTER   IV.     TRANSCENDENTALISM 

The  Transcendental  Move-  Henry  David  Thoreau  .  .  185 

ment 160  Nathaniel  Hawthorne   .  .  190 

William  Ellery  Channing .  163  Historical  Background .  .  206 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson      .  168 

CHAPTER   V.     THE  ANTISLAVERY  MOVEMENT 

Nullification  and  Abolition  208   John  Greenleaf  Whittier  .  232 

Daniel  Webster   ....  212    Harriet  Beecher  Stowe       .  247 

Everett,   Choate,   Phillips,  Historical  Background       .  251 

Sivniipv,  Lincoln  .     .     .  223 

5 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    VI.     THE  CAMBRIDGE  POETS 

PAGE 

The  Literary  Capital    .     .  252   James  Russell  Lowell   . 
Henry   Wadsworth   Long-  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 

fellow 257 

CHAPTER   VII.     LITERATURE  IN  THE  SOUTH 


The  New  South  .  .  . 
William  Gilmore  Simms 
Edgar  Allan  Poe  '  ' .'  . 
Henry  Timrod  .  .  . 


304  Paul  Hamilton  Hayne 

308  Sidney  Lanier      .     . 

310  The  Story  Tellers     . 

323  Historical  Background 


CHAPTER   VIII.     THE  HISTORIANS 

Literary  Quality  of  History  348    John  Lothrop  Motley    . 
George  Bancroft  ....  354    Francis  Parkman 
William  Hickling  Prescott  358 

CHAPTER   IX.     THE  METROPOLITAN  WRITERS 


PAGE 

274 
289 


325 
330 

338 
347 


364 
370 


The  Great  Centers  of  Life  381 
Bayard  Taylor  ....  384 
Richard  Henry  Stoddard  .  394 
Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich  .  398 
Edmund  Clarence  Stedman  404 
Richard  Watson  Gilder  .  408 
The  Essayists 411 


George  William  Curtis  .  413 
Thomas  Wentworth  Hig- 

ginson 419 

Charles  Dudley  Warner  .  421 
Donald  Grant  Mitchell  .  423 
Walt  Whitman  .  .  426 


CHAPTER   X.     PRESENT  SCHOOLS  AND  TENDENCIES 


Universality  of  the  Novel .  435 
William  Dean  Ho  wells  .  438 

Henry  James 445 

Francis  Marion  Crawford  .  448 
Two  Masters  of  the  Short 

Story 450 

A  Group  of  New  England 

Women  .  .  453 


The  West  in  Literature  .  458 

Francis  Bret  Harte  .     .  .  459 

Edward  Eggleston    .     .  .  461 

American  Humor     .     .  .  465 

The  Essay-Naturalists  .  .  472 

John  Burroughs  ....  476 

Biography  and  Criticism  .  487 


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AMERICAN   LITERATURE 

CHAPTER   I 

THE   COLONIAL  PERIOD 

AMERICAN  literature  is  that  part  of  English  litera 
ture  that  has  been  produced  in  America.  Unlike 
other  national  literatures,  such  as  the  French  or  the 
German,  American  literature  had  no  youth,  no  growth 
from  remote  poetic  origins  in  native  tradition  and 
mythology.  It  is  a  fresh  graft  upon  an  old  stock, 
and  the  parent  tree  has  become  the  more  En  lishand 
vigorous  and  fruitful  for  the  grafting.  In  American 

, . ,  , .  ,     Literature 

tracing  our  literary  lineage,  we  are  led  at 
once  back  to  "  our  old  home."  All  English  literature 
is  our  heritage;  Longfellow  and  Tennyson  are  brothers 
of  the  same  poetic  parentage.  Chaucer  is  the  "father" 
of  American,  as  well  as  of  English  poetry,  and  it  is 
a  foolish  pride  and  a  shallow  patriotism  that  would 
seek  to  separate  our  literature  from  its  parent  stock, 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  to  it  the  appearance  of  an 
isolated  nationality.  We  should  be  proud,  rather, 
of  the  unbroken  kinship  of  English  and  American 

9 


10  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CH.U>. 

authors,  and  of  the  splendid  progression  of  the  litera 
ture  of  our  native  tongue,  through  a  period  of  five 
hundred  years,  from  Geoffrey  Chaucer  to  James  Russell 
Lowell. 

"  Literature,"  wrote  Lowell  many  years  ago,  "  tends 
more  and  more  to  become  a  vast  commonwealth  with 
no  dividing  lines  of  nationality."  This  condition  is 
now  realized  in  the  close  interrelations  of  English  and 
American  literature.  Time  and  space  are  no  longer 
barriers  to  the  free  play  of  common  tastes,  inspira 
tions,  and  ideals.  The  "  Yankee  dialect "  is  no  less 
familiar  in  literary  London  than  is  the  Yorkshire  dia 
lect.  Indeed,  already  our  literature  is  an  important 
part  of  English  culture.  It  is  probable  that  in  England 
to-day  Longfellow  is  the  most  widely  read  poet,  and 
Emerson  is  a  greater  moral  force  than  Carlyle.  "  Few 
Americans  realize,"  says  Clement  K.  Shorter,  "the 
enormous  influence  which  the  literature  of  their  own 
land  has  had  upon  this  country."  l 

At  the  beginning,  when  the  wilderness  was  chang 
ing  from  savagery  to  civilization,  and  the  active  forces 
of  men,  both  mental  and  physical,  were  limited  to  the 
struggle  for  existence,  naturally  few  additions  of  per 
manent  value  were  made  to  English  literature  on  this 
Early  s^e  °^  ^ne  ocean-  Leisure  is  required  for 

Conditions  the  making  or  the  enjoying  of  books ;  a 
community  must  possess  tranquillity  and  comfort 
before  it  turns  its  attention  seriously  to  art.  Life 
1  "  Victorian  Literature,"  1897,  p.  2. 


i]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  11 

in  those  miniature  republics  scattered  along  the  ocean 
front  of  the  wilderness,  was  turbulent  and  precarious, 
a  life  of  unremitting  hardship  and  incessant  warfare 
with  the  untamed  forces  of  nature.  There  was  little 
time  for  cultivating  literature,  and  such  books  as  could 
be  used  in  the  new  home  were  brought  from  the  old 
home  in  England. 

But  there  was  much  writing,  of  its  kind,  in  spite  of 
these  unfavorable  conditions.  The  natural  desire  to 
communicate  with  friends  left  behind  in  the  Old 
World  led  many  to  write  detailed  accounts  of  personal 
experience.  The  new  and  strange  objects  of  the 
natural  world,  the  vast  and  unexplored  forests,  un 
familiar  flowers  and  fruits,  wild  animals,  and  mys 
terious  red  men,  all  were  subjects  for  interesting 
descriptions.  Then,  too,  in  each  band  of  settlers 
there  were  wise  and  far-seeing  leaders  Literary 
who,  conscious  of  the  high  destiny  of  their  Besinnm£s 
foundation  work,  made  for  posterity  careful  records  of 
their  doings.  In  New  England  the  absorption  of  the 
common  mind  in  religion  and  its  strong  polemical 
character  led  to  an  astonishing  amount  of  theological 
writing.  And,  filially,  there  were  feeble,  pathetic  at 
tempts  to  relieve  the  barrenness  of  pioneer  life  and 
the  rigors  of  an  austere  religion  by  indulgences  in 
verse-making.  But  these  relics  of  early  American 
intellectual  activity  are  valuable  mainly  as  the  ma 
terial  of  literature.  It  requires  a  great  deal  of  history 
to  make  a  little  poetry.  Art  flourishes  best  in  a  soil 


12  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

made  rich  by  the  decay  of  many  generations  of  human 
activity.  In  the  fresh  contact  of  the  colonists  with 
the  wilderness  and  its  wonders  there  was  abundant 
stimulus  for  the  imagination,  but  they  were  uninflu 
enced  by  such  imaginative  possibilities.  There  was 
no  perspective,  no  softening  atmospheric  distance  in 
the  pictures  presented  to  their  vision ;  everything  was 
in  the  foreground,  a  glaring,  hard  reality.  Two  cen 
turies  passed  before  the  romance  and  poetry  of  this 
life  found  expression  through  Hawthorne,  Whittier, 
and  Longfellow. 

Poetry,  however,  is  not  all  of  art.  Literature  is  an 
expression  of  life;  and  the  best  literature,  that  is, 
artistic  literature,  is  an  expression  of  the  best  life. 
The  Function  Genius  is  representative ;  it  condenses  and 
of  Literature  cryStallizes  into  forms  of  permanent  beauty 
the  life  of  its  environment.  Every  faithful  tran 
script  of  human  thought  and  experience,  however 
crude  and  inartistic,  is  valuable  in  the  interpretation 
of  all  related  life.  For  this  reason  the  literary  striv 
ings  of  our  colonial  forefathers  have  for  us  a  priceless 
value,  in  the  light  that  they  throw  upon  the  expression 
of  our  subsequent  life.  It  would  be  impossible,  for 
example,  to  penetrate  the  mystery  of  Hawthorne's 
genius,  or  breathe  freely  in  the  tenuous  atmosphere  of 
Emerson's  transcendentalism,  without  a  direct  knowl 
edge  of  the  spiritual  rigidity  and  gloom  of  Puritanism 
in  the  days  of  John  Endicott. 

A  colonial  literature  is  conservative  and  imitative, 


i]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  13 

not  progressive  and  original.  It  is  content  to  repro 
duce  the  established  types  and  to  reflect  the  accepted 

masterpieces.     Its  genius,  such  as  it  may 

.  Colonialism 

have,  is  in  a '  state  oi  dependency.     Such 

was  the  general  character  of  literary  work  in  America 
for  two  centuries.  All  writers  of  the  seventeenth 
century  copied  the  models  of  the  Elizabethan  Age,  and 
usually  made  poor  copies ;  in  the  eighteenth  century 
the  influence  of  Pope  continued  to  dominate  American 
letters  long  after  its  force  had  been  broken  in  Eng 
land.  But  with  the  beginning  of  national  life  this 
conservatism  and  timidity  began  to  wear  away,  and 
freedom  and  originality  gradually  to  appear.  Literary 
independence,  however,  was  not  achieved  until  long 
after  the  establishment  of  political  independence. 
The  first  clear  note  of  intellectual  freedom  was 
sounded  by  Emerson  in  1837.  But  with  the  general 
progress  of  national  life  there  has  been  a  continuous 
development  of  a  distinctive  Americanism  in  our 
literature,  corresponding  to  the  development  of  per 
sonal  and  social  traits  that  now  constitute  our  dis 
tinctive  national  characte  ;  and  yet  these  qualities, 
it  must  be  remembered,  are  incidental  rather  than 
fundamental.  The  grape  is  a  grape  everywhere,  but 
in  each  region  where  the  vine  flourishes  it  produces  a 
wine  possessing  some  distinguishing  flavor  or  color, 
due  to  some  difference  of  soil,  climate,  or  cultivation. 
So  English  literature  in  America,  while  retaining  its 
fundamental  English  character,  presents  certain  new 


14  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

traits  and  qualities  that  could  have  appeared  only  in 
America. 

American  literature  is  divided  naturally  into  three 
general  periods.  First,  the  Colonial  Period,  from  1607 
to  1765,  the  year  of  the  Stamp  Act.  Second,  the 

Period  of   the  Revolution,  from   1765  to 
Periods 

1789,  the  year  of  the  establishment  of  the 

national  government.  Third,  the  National  Period, 
which  may  be  subdivided  into  First  Part,  extending 
from  1789,  the  beginning  of  the  government,  to  1861, 
the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War,  and  Second  Part, 
from  the  Civil  War  to  the  present  time.  Within 
these  periods,  authors  will  be  found  to  arrange  them 
selves  readily  into  groups,  according  to  some  common 
tendency  or  general  movement  of  thought.  Moreover, 
certain  general  characteristics  will  be  found  to  distin 
guish  each  period.  In  the  first  part  of  the  National 
Period  there  were  two  great  intellectual  forces,  the 
Transcendental  Movement  and  the  Antislavery  Move 
ment,  both  centered  in  New  England.  Through  the 
influence  of  the  latter  and  its  culmination  in  the 
Civil  War,  a  more  complete  nationalism  was  reached. 
Hence  in  the  second  part  of  this  period  we  find  litera 
ture  becoming  less  local  and  provincial  and  increas 
ingly  national  in  its  characteristics  and  interests. 

Since  the  beginnings  of  American  literature  were 
but  the  distant  echoes  of  the  nobler  voices  of  England, 
it  is  necessary  to  keep  in  mind  as  thoroughly  as  possi 
ble  the  contemporary  activities  in  English  literature. 


i]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  15 

Our  literature  was  born  at  au  auspicious  moment; 
the  grand  outburst  of  Elizabethan  literature  had  just 
reached  the  climax  of  its  splendor.  While  Literature  in 
Captain  John  Smith  was  writing  the  first  Ensland 
American  book  by  the  campfires  of  Jamestown, 
Shakspere  was  probably  writing  "  Coriolanus "  and 
"  King  Lear."  Bacon  had  just  published  the  "  Ad 
vancement  of  Learning,"  in  1605,  and  in  1611  ap 
peared  the  Authorized  Version  of  the  Bible.  Each 
year  London  was  listening  to  new  dramas  from  the 
brilliant  Shaksperian  brotherhood  of  playwrights, 
Ben  Jonson,  Beaumont,  Fletcher,  Chapman,  Web 
ster,  Marston,  and  the  others.  In  1620,  the  year  of 
the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth,  Bacon's 
"  IS" ovum  Organum  "  was  given  to  the  world,  and  three 
years  later  appeared  the  first  collected  edition  of 
Shakspere's  works,  the  "  First  Folio,"  a  book  that 
marks  the  most  glorious  epoch  in  the  history  of  the 
human  mind.  These  products  of  English  genius 
must  be  used  as  the  basis  of  all  interpretation  of  the 
early  literary  experiments  in  colonial  America. 


The  most  romantic  part  of  American  history  is  the 
colonial  period  in  the  Old  Dominion.     The  name  of 
Virginia  itself  associates   the   beginnings  The 
of  our  nation  with  the  most  illustrious  age  Virginians 
of  English  history,  literature,  and  chivalry,  and  it  is 


16  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

pleasant  to  connect  with  the  first  efforts  of  American 
colonization  the  name  of  that  courtliest  of  Queen  Eli 
zabeth's  knights,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  An  impenetra 
ble  mystery  still  rests  upon  the  ill-fated  attempt  of 
Raleigh  to  plant  a  colony  at  Roanoke  in  1585 ;  but  his 
wise  policy  of  extending  the  English  dominions  in  the 
New  World  by  establishing  permanent  agricultural 
colonies,  rather  than  by  military  plundering  expedi 
tions  in  the  Spanish  manner,  was  followed  by  other 
distinguished  Englishmen,  who  were  moved  by  the 
spirit  of  the  age  to  engage  in  hazardous  enterprises  in 
these  strange  and  alluring  regions  of  the  West. 

In  1607  the  first  successful  English  colony  was 
planted  at  Jamestown,  and  for  many  years  the  eyes 
of  all  England  were  fixed  anxiously  upon  that  peril 
ous  spot  in  the  illimitable  wilderness.  Although  the 
London  Company  had  sent  out  this  band  of  adven 
turers  mainly  for  commercial  and  private  gain,  yet 
the  thrilling  enterprise  of  hewing  out  a  new  empire 
in  the  Virginia  forests  awakened  national  interest. 
The  new  king  bestowed  upon  the  undertaking  his 
royal  attention,  and  the  good  old  Elizabethan  poet, 
Michael  Drayton,  hailed  the  departure  of  these  "be 
ginners  .of  a  nation "  with  an  inspiring  ode,  full  of 
high  hope  and  prophetic  promise.  Cheerily  he  bade 
them  adieu :  — 

Britons,  you  stay  too  long  ; 
Quickly  aboard  bestow  you  ; 
And  with  a  merry  gale 


ij  THE   COLONIAL  PERIOD  17 

Swell  your  stretch'd  sail ; 
With  vows  as  strong 
As  the  winds  that  blow  you. 

Virginia  and  Massachusetts,  says  Lowell,  were  the 
"  two  great  distributing  centers  of  the  English  race  in 
America."  From  Jamestown  and  Plymouth  flowed 
two  mighty  streams  of  influence,  dissimilar  and  for 
one  hundred  years  entirely  separate,  but  uniting  in 
the  period  of  the  Revolution  to  form  the  swift  and 
deep  current  of  a  new  national  life.  Two 

Virginia 

types  of  men  with  distinct  ideals  of  life  and  Massa- 
were  represented  by  the  founders  of  these  c 
two  colonies ;  in  England  these  types  came  to  be  dis 
tinguished  as  "  Cavaliers  "  and  "  Roundheads,"  and  in 
America  the  qualities  for  which  these  terms  stand 
may  still  to  some  extent  be  traced  in  the  distinction 
between  "North"  and  "South."  The  leading  fami 
lies  of  Virginia  were  from  the  higher  ranks  of  Eng 
lish  society,  and  were  strongly  bound  to  royalty  and 
the  established  church;  nearly  half  of  the  first  set 
tlers  at  Jamestown  were  called  "  gentlemen,"  men 
born  to  wealth  and  cultivated  leisure.  They  came  to 
the  New  World,  not  like  the  Puritans  in  pursuit  of 
spiritual  ideals,  but  from  love  of  adventure,  or  in  the 
hope  of  great  fortune.  They  did  not,  like  the  Puri 
tans,  from  the  very  beginning  seek  permanent  homes 
on  this  side  of  the  ocean  and  begin  at  once  the  foun 
dation  of  new  social  institutions.  Of  the  Plymouth 
Pilgrims  not  one  returned,  while  of  the  Jamestown 


18  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

colonists  not  one  remained  who  could  find  means  to 
get  back  to  England.  They  were  lured  to  Virginia 
by  visions  of  an  El  Dorado  such  as  the  Spaniards  had 
found  in  Mexico  and  Peru;  but  it  was  only  after 
many  years  of  suffering  and  disappointment  that  the 
golden  treasure  was  discovered  in  the  tobacco  planta 
tions. 

The  cultivation  of  only  one  or  two  staple  products, 
as  tobacco  and  cotton,  the  use  of  slave  labor,  and  the 
inheritance  of  a  feudal  ideal  of  life,  were  the  deter 
mining  factors  in  the  social  and  intellectual  develop 
ment  of  the  southern  colonies.  Upon  their  broad 
Plantation  plantations  the  wealthy  planters  lived  in  a 
Llfe  kind  of  baronial  isolation,  surrounded  by 

large  families  and  troops  of  slaves,  and  exchanging  at 
infrequent  intervals,  with  a  stately  and  gracious  hos 
pitality,  the  courtesies  of  social  life.  In  the  northern 
colonies  the  rule  of  settlement  was  centralization,  the 
gathering  of  the  settlers  in  town  and  village  com 
munities,  with  common  and  unifying  interests ;  in  the 
South  the  rule  of  settlement  was  dispersion,  the  dot 
ting  of  the  country  here  and  there  with  manorial  resi 
dences,  with  no  common  meeting-place  except  the 
courthouse.  Education  and  religion  were  almost  as 
thoroughly  neglected  in  Virginia  as  they  were  thor 
oughly  cultivated  in  Massachusetts.  Culture  was 
confined  to  the  few  leading  families  whose  intel 
lectual  tastes  were  fashioned  by  English  books  and 
instructors.  Such  conditions  were  unfavorable  for 


i]  THE   COLONIAL  PERIOD  19 

the  growth  of  a  native  literature,  and  hence  we  find 
that  until  after  the  Civil  War  there  was  only  an  in 
cipient  and  comparatively  fruitless  literary  activity 
in  the  South. 

But  there  was  the  best  of  English  blood  in  the 
veins  of  some  of  those  first  Virginians ;  they  were 
from  a  race  of  men  born  to  rule,  and  their  mode  of 
life  tended  to  develop  an  aptitude  for  politics  and 
political  leadership.  The  southern  colonies  did  not 
rear  poets  and  philosophers,  but  they  did  rear  states 
men,  and  it  is  the  first  distinction  of  Virginia  to  be 
called  the  "  Mother  of  Presidents." 

Of  the  original  Jamestown  settlers,  the  one  of  chief 
interest  to  history  and  literature  is  the  redoubtable 
Captain  John  Smith,  a  typical  adventurer 
of  seventeenth-century  romance.  Accord-  John  Smith, 
ing  to  his  own  story,  he  had  already  been  I579~l6 
engaged  in  many  marvelous  exploits  in  Flanders,  Bar- 
bary,  Turkey,  and  Tartary,  and  an  experience  with  the 
mysterious  "  salvages "  of  the  Virginia  forests  was 
quite  to  his  relish.  A  vainglorious  and  boastful  story 
teller  he  undoubtedly  was,  but  to  his  brave  and  saga 
cious  leadership  the  colony  owed  its  survival,  and  to 
his  diligence  with  the  pen  we  owe  the  intensely  inter 
esting  beginnings  of  American  history  and  literature. 
Even  though  the  incidents  in  his  early  narratives 
were  highly  embellished  in  his  later  versions,  and 
even  though  some  of  his  best  stories,  such  as  the 
Pocahontas  scene,  have  nearly  evaporated  into  myth, 


20 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE 


[CHAP. 


yet  there  is  so  substantial  a  basis  of  fact  underlying 
all  his  descriptions  that  we  can  afford  to  take  his 
word  upon  liberal  faith  when  he  says :  "  I  thank  God 
I  never  undertook  anything  yet  [wherein]  any  could 

tax  me  of  carelessness 
or  dishonesty."  In 
deed,  upon  the  author 
ity  of  Fiske,  we  may 
accept  the  Pocahontas 
story,  without  qualifi 
cation,  the  current 
skepticism  regarding 
that  incident  being 
based,  as  he  shows, 
upon  imperfect  under 
standing  of  Indian 
customs.1 

During  the  first  year 
at  Jamestown,  Captain 
Smith  wrote  the  first 
book   ever   written  in 
America,  "A  True  Ee- 
lation  of  Such  Occur 
rences  and  Accidents  of  Note  as  have  happened  in 
Virginia."     The  book  was  published  in  London  the  fol- 
The  First        lowing  year,  1608,  and  sold  "  at  the  Grey 
hound  in  Paul's  Church-yard,"  only  a  few 
steps  from  the  house  in  which  Milton  was  born  the 

1  "Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  102-111. 


i]  THE   COLONIAL  PERIOD  21 

same  year.  It  is  a  picturesque  account  of  the  stirring 
events  in  which  the  author  was  the  central  figure, 
written  in  a  rough,  vigorous  style,  quite  worthy  of  a 
brave  Indian  fighter ;  hardly  to  be  called  literature, 
rather  the  material  for  literature ;  but  there  is  a  heroic 
vim,  an  Elizabethan  breeziness  about  it,  and  a  fresh 
ness  arising  from  first  experience  with  wild  nature  and 
wild  men,  that  make  its  rugged  pages  good  reading. 
The  following  passage  describing  the  author's  capture 
by  the  Indians  will  illustrate  his  sword-hewn  style :  — 

My  hinde  [Indian]  treated  betwixt  them  and  me  of  condi 
tions  of  peace ;  he  discouered  me  to  be  the  Captaine :  my 
request  was  to  retire  to  the  boate  :  they  demaunded  my  armes, 
the  rest  they  saide  were  slaine,  onely  me  they  would  reserue : 

The  Indian  importuned  me  not  to  shoot.  In  retiring  being 
in  the  midst  of  a  low  quagmire,  and  minding  them  more  then 
my  steps,  I  stept  fast  into  the  quagmire,  and  also  the  Indian  in 
drawing  me  forth  : 

Thus  surprised,  I  resolued  to  trie  their  mercies :  my  armes 
I  caste  from  me,  till  which  none  durst  approch  me. 

Being  ceazed  on  me,  they  drew  me  out  and  led  me  to  the 
King.  I  presented  him  with  a  compasse  diall,  describing  by 
my  best  meanes  the  vse  therof:  whereat  he  so  amazedly  ad 
mired,  as  he  suffered  me  to  proceed  in  a  discourse  of  the 
roundnes  of  the  earth,  the  course  of  the  sunne,  moone,  starres 
and  plannets. 

With  kinde  speeches  and  bread  he  requited  me,  conducting 
me  where  the  Canow  lay  and  fohn  Robbinson  slaine,  with  20 
or  30.  arrowes  in  him.  Emry  I  saw  not. 

Smith  wrote  eight  other  books,  all  of  which  show 
his  enthusiastic  devotion  to  the  cause  of  American 
colonization;  the  most  important  are  "New  England's 


22  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Trials  "  and  the  "  General  History  of  Virginia."  He 
explored  the  New  England  coast,  and  after  an  unsuc 
cessful  attempt,  in  1615,  to  plant  a  colony  there,  laid 
aside  his  sword  and  compass.  During  the  remainder 
of  his  life  he  contented  himself  with  his  adventurous 
pen,  enjoying  the  celebrity  of  a  veteran  explorer ;  but 
not  with  perfect  comfort,  it  would  seem,  for  there 
were  those  who  taxed  him  through  envy,  he  says, 
with  having  "  writ  too  much  and  done  too  little." 

Among  the  early  Virginians  were  other  writers  whose  works 
are  worthy  of  attention  for  their  great  historic  value,  and  in 
some  cases,  for  their  genuine  literary  interest.  William 
Strachey's  vigorous  description  of  the  storm  and  shipwreck 
encountered  by  Sir  Thomas  Gates  in  the  Bermudas  in  1610  is 
believed  to  have  furnished  Shakspere  with  his  "still -vexed 
Bermoothes,"  and  the  opening  scene  of  the  "Tempest." 
Alexander  Whitaker,  "  the  Apostle  of  Virginia,"  wrote  "  Good 
News  from  Virginia,"  described  by  the  poet  Crashawe  as  a 
Other  "pithy  and  godly  exhortation,  interlaced  with 

Virginian  narratives  of  many  particulars  touching  the  coun- 
Writers  try^  climate,  and  commodities."  George  Sandys, 

the  friend  of  Drayton  and  other  Elizabethans,  completed  at 
Jamestown  his  excellent  translation  of  Ovid's  "  Metamor 
phoses,"  a  book  that  should  have  for  us  "  a  sort  of  sacredness," 
says  Tyler,  "  as  the  morning  star  at  once  of  poetry  and  of 
scholarship  in  the  new  world."  John  Hammond  wrote  enthu 
siastically  of  "Leah  and  Rachel,"  that  is,  "the  two  fruitful 
sisters,  Virginia  and  Maryland."  The  "  Burwell  Papers"  con 
tain  an  important  contemporary  account  of  Bacon's  Rebel 
lion.  The  strongest  intellectual  influence  in  the  South  before 
the  Revolution  was  James  Blair,  founder  of  William  and  Mary 
College,  and  author  of  "The  Present  State  of  Virginia."  The 
first  native-born  historian  of  Virginia  was  Robert  Beverley. 


j]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  23 

whose  vigorously  written  "  History  of  Virginia"  was  first  pub 
lished  in  1705.  The  '•  History  of  the  Dividing  Line,1'  by  Wil 
liam  Byrd,  written  in  a  bright  and  humorous  style,  gives  a 
lively  picture  of  colonial  life.  A  more  critical,  but  less  inter 
esting  work  is  William  Stith's  "  History  of  Virginia,"  pub 
lished  in  1747.  If  one  would  know  the  real  life  of  the  Old 
Dominion,  one  should  read  liberal  extracts  from  these  quaint 
and  clumsy  old  chroniclers. 

"I  shall  make  them  conform  themselves,"  said 
James  I  in  reference  to  the  Puritans,  "  or  I  will  harry 
them  out  of  the  land,  or  else  do  worse."  This  royal 
threat  explains  the  initial  force  in  the  The 
colonization  of  New  England.  Massaclm-  Puritans 
setts  Bay  was  a  harbor  of  refuge  for  those  English 
people  who,  filled  with  the  spirit  of  Protestant  revolt, 
spread  abroad  in  Europe  by  the  Reformation,  de 
manded  the  right  of  free  worship.  Under  the  long 
ordeal  of  Stuart  persecution,  these  schismatics,  non 
conformists,  "  Roundheads,"  worked  out  a  new  national 
ideal,  the  foundation  ideal  of  American  liberty. 

The  Mayflower  Pilgrims  who  landed  at  Plymouth 
Rock  in  1620,  and  the  Puritans  who  followed  rapidly, 
planting  their  little  settlements  along  the  Massachu 
setts  coast  northward,  were  people  of  remarkable  qual 
ities,  and  their  influence  upon  the  development  of  our 
national  life  has  been  proportionally  important.  The 
heroic,  high-minded,  undismayed  determination  with 
which  these  people  pursued  their  ideal  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  to  its  realization  is  one  of  the  grand 
est  exhibitions  of  human  virtue  in  all  history.  Their 


24  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

tremendous  earnestness,  though  to  the  modern  mind 
sometimes  comic  as  well  as  tragic  in  its  expression,  will 
Puritan  never  lose  its  impressiveness.  They  came 

Qualities  ^o  the  New  World  not  like  the  Virginians, 
to  seek  wealth  and  adventure,  but  to  found  new  homes 
and  new  institutions,  to  set  up  new  altars  of  justice 
and  religion.  They  were  nation  builders  from  the 
start.  Around  the  "meeting-house"  they  gathered  in 
closely  united  communities,  governed  by  rulers  of  their 
own  choice,  recognizing  no  "  established  "  church  or 
sovereign  by  divine  right,  responsible  only  to  God 
and  their  own  consciences.  Life,  by  their  stern  creed, 
being  mainly  a  preparation  for  death,  religion  became 
an  all-absorbing  passion,  and  sacrifice  and  suffering 
were  accepted  as  divinely  appointed  instruments  for 
purifying  the  soul. 

Their  religion,  born  in  an  atmosphere  of  protest, 
and  nurtured  by  controversy,  was  more  intellectual 
than  spiritual ;  although  illustrations  of  the  religion 
of  true  holiness  and  of  sanctified  love  were  not  want 
ing  among  them,  the  mind  rather  than  the  heart  was 
the  instrument  for  the  exercise  of  religious  faith. 
Education  was,  therefore,  of  vital  importance ;  public 
instruction  was  made  compulsory,  and  only 

Education  J ' 

and  Pun-  sixteen  years  after  the  landing  of  the  Pil 
grims,  Harvard  College  was  founded.  "  A 
hard  student,  a  good  scholar,  and  a  great  Christian," 
is  the  significant  epitaph  on  an  old  tombstone  in 
Salem.  And  the  admonition  of  the  Spartan  mother, 


i]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  25 

"  Return  with  thy  shield  or  upon  it,"  is  not  more  wor 
thily  memorable  than  the  words  of  the  Puritan  mother 
to  her  son,  "  Child,  if  God  make  thee  a  good  Christian 
and  a  good  scholar,  thou  hast  all  that  thy  mother  ever 
asked  for  thee."  Many  of  these  colonists  were  men 
of  broad  education,  graduates  of  Oxford  and  Cam 
bridge,  who  furnished  a  strong  intellectual  stimulus 
for  each  little  community.  "In  all  history,"  says 
Fiske,  "there  has  been  no  other  instance  of  coloniza 
tion  so  exclusively  effected  by  picked  and  chosen  men. 
The  colonists  knew  this,  and  were  proud  of  it,  as  well 
they  might  be.  It  was  the  simple  truth  that  was 
spoken  by  William  Stoughtou  when  he  said  in  his 
election  sermon  of  1688,  '  God  sifted  a  whole  nation, 
that  he  might  send  choice  grain  into  the  wilderness.'  " 
Nevertheless,  those  sober-faced,  serious-minded  New 
Englanders  were  a  people  whom  one  to-day  would  not 
like  to  live  among.  Hardship,  isolation,  a  fatalistic 
creed,  and  the  constant  dwelling  upon  religious  themes 
and  their  application  to  the  minutest  de-  Rigorsof 
tails  of  daily  life,  made  them  severe,  mor-  Puritanism 
bid,  superstitious,  and  fanatical.  The  New  England 
conscience  became,  for  a  time,  as  stern  a  despot  as 
ever  King  Charles  had  been.  Liberty  was  perverted 
into  intolerance.  They  persecuted  Baptists  and  Quak 
ers,  and  hanged  witches.  They  prohibited  Christmas 
and  Mayday  festivals,  made  laws  against  long  hair 
and  large  dress  sleeves,  put  women  in  the  stocks  for 
scolding,  and  solemnly  whipped  children  for  being 


26  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

merry.  In  the  course  of  two  generations,  the  broad- 
mindedness  and  lofty  idealism  of  the  first  settlers — of 
Bradford,  Winthrop,  and  their  associates  —  deterio 
rated  into  intellectual  narrowness,  religious  bigotry, 
and  spiritual  gloom.  Under  the  limitations  of  such 
a  society  this  change  was  inevitable,  but  a  compensa 
tion  has  been  found  in  the  final  results  of  Puritanism. 
The  indomitable  vigor  and  the  inflexible  fidelity  of 
this  life  made  a  contribution  to  our  national  character 
that  is  now  a  source  of  national  pride.  "Let  us  thank 
God  for  having  given  us  such  ancestors,"  said  Haw 
thorne,  "and  let  each  successive  generation  thank  Him 
not  less  fervently  for  being  one  step  further  from 
them  in  the  march  of  ages. " 

The  men  who  lived  this  austere  life,  being  con 
sciously  engaged  in  laying  the  foundations  of  an  ideal 
commonwealth  that  should  be  ruled  by  God's  law 
rather  than  by  man's  law,  would  naturally  desire  to 
Th  N  make  permanent  records  of  their  deeds; 

England          also,  men  over  whose  every  action  God's 

Chroniclers  IT          i    j_  .    1-1 

presence  was  believed  to  rest  like  a  nam 
ing  sword,  would  naturally  make  their  records  serious 
and  scrupulously  minute.  Hence  we  find  many  elab 
orate  journals  and  diaries,  in  which  the  great  and  the 
little  things  of  daily  life  were  recorded  with  pious 
care.  The  best  of  these  records  are  chronicles  rather 
than  histories,  which  have  furnished  the  abundant 
material  for  all  subsequent  histories  of  the  period. 
Tedious  they  are .  as  a  whole,  yet  they  possess  for  us 


i]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  27 

a  vital  interest,  for  in  the  pages  of  these  original 
documents  the  life  of  early  New  England  is  seen  as 
in  a  mirror. 

The  earliest  and  the  best  of  these  colonial  chronicles 
is  the  "  History  of  Plymouth  Plantation,"  by  William 
Bradford,  the  noble  leader  of  the  Plymouth  , 

J  William 

Pilgrims.  A  singular  fortune  has  attended  Bradford, 
this  work.  It  was  left  in  manuscript  by  I59°"1657 
the  author  at  his  death  in  1657,  was  used  by  Nathaniel 
Morton  when  writing  his  "  New  England's  Memorial," 
by  Thomas  Prince  in  compiling  his  "Chronological 
History  of  New  England,"  and  again  by  Thomas 
Hutchinson  in  the  composition  of  his  "  History  of 
Massachusetts  Bay."  In  1775,  when  the  library  of 
Thomas  Prince,  stowed  away  in  the  tower  of  Old 
South  Church,  was  plundered  by  British  soldiers, 
this  precious  manuscript  disappeared,  and  for  nearly 
a  century  was  supposed  to  have  been  destroyed.  In 
1855  it  was  discovered  in  the  library  of  the  Bishop 
of  London,  and  was  then  copied  and  published  in 
America.  Finally,  in  1897,  by  decree  of  the  Consistory 
Court  of  the  Diocese  of  London,  the  priceless  relic 
was  returned  to  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts.1 
The  merit  of  this  work  entitles  the  author,  in 
Tyler's  opinion,  "to  the  preeminence  of  being  called 
the  father  of  American  history."  The  heroic  governor 

1  For  the  full  story  of  the  Ms.,  see  the  official  edition  of  "The 
Bradford  History,"  1900,  containing  also  an  account  of  the  formal 
presentation  to  the  governor  of  Massachusetts. 


28  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

tells  the  story  of  the  long  and  bitter  struggle  of  the 
Plymouth  plantation  "  from  the  very  root  and  rise  of 
the  same,"  and  holds  to  his  purpose  to 
of  American  write  "in  a  plain  style,  with  singular  re 
gard  unto  the  simple  truth  in  all  things." 
The  narrative  extends  to  the  year  1646.  It  is  grave 
in  tone,  straightforward  and  vigorous  in  expression, 
with  touches  of  an  unconscious  but  genuine  literary 
gift  that  pleasantly  relieves  the  monotony  of  solemn 
incidents,  and  gives  evidence  throughout  of  the  wise, 
patient,  and  magnanimous  mind  of  the  author.  Like 
Plymouth  Rock,  this  book  lies  at  the  gateway  of 
American  history,  imperishable,  and  imperative  in  its 
demands  upon  the  attention  of  every  student  of 
American  life.  The  following  passage  will  illustrate 
some  of  its  qualities  :  — 

Being  thus  arrived  at  Cap-Cod  ye  11.  of  November,  and 
necessitie  calling  them  to  looke  out  a  place  for  habitation,  (as 
well  as  the  maisters  &  mariners  importunitie,)  they  having 
brought  a  large  shalop  with  them  out  of  England,  stowed  in 
quarters  in  ye  ship,  they  now  gott  her  out  &  sett  their  carpenters 
to  worke  to  trime  her  up  ;  but  being  much  brused  &  shatered 
in  ye  shipe  wth  foule  weather,  they  saw  she  would  be  longe  in 
mending.  Wherupon  a  few  of  them  tendered  them  selves  to 
goe  by  land  and  discovere  those  nearest  places,  whilst  ye  shallop 
was  in  mending ;  and  ye  rather  because  as  they  wente  into  yl 
harbor  ther  seemed  to  be  an  opening  some  2.  or  3  leagues  of, 
which  ye  maister  judged  to  be  a  river.  It  was  conceived  ther 
might  be  some  danger  in  ye  attempte,  yet  seeing  them  resolute, 
they  were  permited  to  goe,  being  16.  of  them  well  armed,  under 
ye  conduct  of  Captain  Standish,  having  shuch  instructions  given 
them  as  was  thought  meete.  They  sett  forth  ye  15.  of  Novebr: 


i]  THE    COLONIAL   PERIOD  29 

and  when  they  had  marched  aboute  ye  space  of  a  mile  by  ye  sea 
side,  they  espied  5.  or  6.  persons  with  a  dogg  coming  towards 
them,  who  were  salvages  ;  but  they  fled  from  them,  &  raiie  up 
into  ye  woods,  and  ye  English  followed  them.  .  .  .  but  they 
soone  lost  both  them  &  them  selves,  falling  into  shuch  thickets 
as  were  ready  to  tear  their  cloaths  &  armore  in  peeces.  .  .  . 
And  proceeding  furder  they  saw  new-stuble  wher  corne  had 
been  set  ye  same  year,  also  they  found  wher  latly  a  house  had 
been,  wher  some  planks  and  a  great  ketle  was  remaining,  and 
heaps  of  sand  newly  padled  with  their  hands,  which  they,  dig 
ging  up,  found  in  them  diverce  faire  Indean  baskets  filled  with 
corne,  and  some  in  eares,  faire  and  good,  of  diverce  collours, 
which  seemed  to  them  a  very  goodly  sight,  (haveing  never  seen 
any  shuch  before)  ...  so  their  time  limeted  them  being  ex 
pired,  they  returned  to  y«  ship,  least  they  should  be  in  fear  of 
their  saftie  ;  and  tooke  with  them  parte  of  ye  corne,  and  buried 
up  ye  rest,  and  so  like  ye  men  from  Eshcoll  carried  with  them 
of  ye  fruits  of  ye  land,  &  showed  their  breethren;  of  which, 
&  their  returne,  they  were  marvelusly  glad,  and  their  harts 
incouraged. 

Next  in  importance  to  Bradford's  narrative  is  the 
"  History  of  New  England,"  by  Governor  John  Win- 
throp,  leader  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony.     This 
is   a   faithful,  unadorned   record  of   early 
Puritanism,  picturing  in  hard  outline  its  winthrop, 
toil,  sufferings,  meannesses,  and   supersti 
tions,  as  well  as  its  pathos,  dignity,  and  faith.     It  is 
in  the  form  of  a  journal,  written  with  care  only  for 
an  honest  statement  of  facts,  and  covers  the  period 
from  1630  to   1648.     One   passage  is   celebrated   for 
both  form  and  matter,  the  exposition  of  the  doctrine 
of    true   liberty   in    his   defense    before    the    general 


30  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

court,  when  charged  with  exceeding  his  official  au 
thority.  In  this  fine  plea  one  almost  catches  the 
lofty  sound  of  Milton's  voice. 

Dull  and  unreadable  itself,  for  the  most  part,  this 
solemn  diary  has  served  as  a  treasure-house  of  rich 
material  for  poetry  and  romance.  Here  Hawthorne 
found  the  story  of  "  Endicott  and  the  Red  Cross," 
and  the  "Maypole  of  Merry  Mount/'  and  the  hint 
that  led  to  the  "  Scarlet  Letter."  Here,  too,  is  the 
substance  of  Longfellow's  "  New  England  Tragedies," 
and  of  Whittier's  "Familists'  Hymn,"  and  "John 
Underbill."  By  the  deft  touch  of  genius  the  dusty 
pages  of  the  old  chronicle  have  been  transformed 
into  works  of  imperishable  beauty. 

More  interesting  to  read  than  the  journals  of  Brad 

ford  and  Winthrop,  because  more  genuinely  human, 

is  the  private  "  Diary  "  of  Judge  Samuel 

Sewaii,  Sewall.     For   more   than  half  a  century, 


with  picturesque  vanity  and  perfect  honesty,  like  his 
prototype,  the  delightfiil  English  gossip  of  the 
Restoration,  made  a  daily  transcript  of  the  littleness 
and  the  greatness,  the  practical  thrift,  the  homely 
humor,  and  the  sanctimonious  severity  of  his  life  and 
of  the  life  of  his  community.  Thus  he  writes  :  — 

Went  to  Cambridge  and  visited  Mr.  Danforth,  and  dis 
coursed  with  Him  about  the  Witchcraft.  .  .  .  Set  two  Chest 
nuts  at  Mr.  Bromfield's  Orchard,  and  three  at  our  own,  hoping 
they  may  come  up  in  the  Spring.  .  .  .  Order  comes  out  for  a, 


i]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  31 

Fast.  I  carry  one  to  Mr.  Willard.  Mrs.  Willard  talks  to  me 
very  sharply  about  Capt.  Alden's  not  being  at  the  Lord's  Sup 
per  last  Sabbath-day.  ...  I  drove  a  Treenail  in  the  Govern- 
our's  Briganteen  ;  and  invited  his  Excellency  to  drink  a  Glass 
of  Brandy,  which  was  pleas'd  to  doe  with  Capt.  Greenough, 
Mr.  Jackson  Elliston,  and  his  little  Son.  .  .  .  Carried  my 
daughter  Hanah  to  Salem  in  company  of  Mr.  Hathorne  and 
Sam.  Wakelield.  .  .  .  Went  in  with  Mr.  Cotton  Mather  to 
Mr.  Bradstreets,  and  heard  him  pray.  ...  At  6  aclock  my 
ink  freezes  so  that  I  can  hardly  write  by  a  good  fire  in  my 
wive's  chamber.  Yet  was  very  comfortable  at  Meeting.  Laus 
Deo  .  .  .  Joseph  threw  a  knop  of  Brass  and  hit  his  Sister 
Betty  on  the  forhead  so  as  to  make  it  bleed  and  swell ;  upon 
which,  and  for  his  playing  at  Prayer-time,  and  eating  when 
Keturne  Thanks,  I  whipd  him  pretty  smartly.  When  I  first 
went  in  (call'd  by  his  Grandmother)  he  sought  to  shadow  and 
hide  himself  from  me  behind  the  head  of  the  Cradle :  which 
gave  me  the  sorrowfull  remembrance  of  Adam's  carriage. 

His  extravagant  piety,  his  several  courtships,  his 
delight  in  "  assisting "  at  funerals,  his  horror  of  wigs, 
maypoles,  Quakers,  and  the  Prayer  Book,  are  all  set 
forth  with  the  same  frank  minuteness  of  detail.  The 
reader  is  often  reminded  that  Sewall  was  one  of  the 
judges  who  condemned  the  witches  to  death ;  but  of 
this  he  afterward  repented,  and  made  a  public  con 
fession  of  the  error  of  his  judgment.  It  is  pleasanter 
to  remember  that  he  was  the  author  of  the  first  anti- 
slavery  tract  written  in  America,  "  The  Selling  of 
Joseph,"  published  in  1700.  He  holds  a  place  in 
literature,  however,  only  by  means  of  the  unique 
"Diary."  The  completeness  with  which  this  work 
pictures  Puritan  society  in  and  around  Boston  at  the 


32  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

close  of  the  first  century  of  the  life  of  the  colonies, 
makes  it  "the  most  important  work  of  original  au 
thority  in  the  whole  range  of  New  England  history." 1 

Many  other  works  of  a  historical  character  deserve  to  be 
mentioned  for  their  interest  and  value  as  original  material  for 
portraying  the  life  of  New  England  during  the  colonial  period. 
Among  these  are  Nathaniel  Morton's  '-New  England's  Memo 
rial,"  compiled  largely  from  the  Bradford  manuscript  and  from 
"certain  diurnals  of  the  honored  Mr.  Edward  Winslow"; 
Edward  Johnson's  "  Wonder-working  Providence  of  Zion's 
Saviour  in  New  England,"  which  Tyler  regards 

Other  His-        as  "  a  most  authentic  and  priceless  memorial  of 

toricalWnt-  .  . 

in  American  character  and  life  in  the  heroic  epoch  "  ; 

the  "Journal"  of  Bradford  and  Winslow,  cover 
ing  the  first  year  at  Plymouth,  and  the  continuation  by  Wins- 
low  alone  in  his  "  Good  News  from  New  England  "  ;  the  saintly 
Francis  Higginson's  "New  England's  Plantation,"  containing 
a  "description  of  the  commodities  and  discommodities  of  that 
country";  and  William  Wood's  "New  England's  Prospect," 
published  in  1634,  which  is,  as  the  author  asserts,  "a  true, 
lively,  and  experimental "  description  of  the  geography,  climate, 
products,  and  native  inhabitants  of  the  New  World.  John 
Mason's  "  History  of  the  Pequot  War  "  ;  Daniel  Gookin's  "  His 
torical  Account,"  a  manly  defense  of  the  Indians  against  the 
fanatical  and  bloody  zeal  of  the  colonists ;  William  Hubbard's 
"  Indian  Wars,"  and  Mary  Rowlandson's  thrilling  narrative  of 
her  captivity,  are  early  and  readable  books  about  the  Indians. 
A  unique  place  will  always  be  held  by  Nathaniel  Ward's  "Sim 
ple  Cobbler  of  Agawam,"  a  prose  satire,  full  of  wit,  wisdom, 
and  bigotry,  aimed  at  toleration,  the  frivolous  fashions  of  men 
and  women,  and  other  signs  of  the  times,  accepted  by  the 
author  as  evidence  that  "  Sathan  is  now  in  his  passions-" 

1  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  "  A  Puritan  Pepys,"  Historical  Studies 
p.  22. 


i]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  33 

An  exceedingly  interesting  work  is  the  "Journal"  of  Sarah 
Kemble  Knight,  containing  an  account  of  the  writer's  adven 
turous  journey  from  Boston  to  New  York  in  1704,  full  of  wit, 
humor,  and  graphic  description.  A  long  stride  toward  sys 
tematic  historical  writing  was  made  by  Thomas  Prince  in  his 
"Chronological  History  of  New  England,"  published  in  1736. 
But  still  more  elaborate  and  valuable  is  the  "  History  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay,"  by  Thomas  Hutchinson,  the  last  of  the  British 
governors;  this  work  extends  from  1628  to  1774,  and  its  merits 
are  such  as  to  entitle  the  author  to  be  ranked,  says  Tyler,  as 
"the  ablest  historical  writer  produced  in  America  prior  to  the 
nineteenth  century." 

THE  NEW  ENGLAND  PREACHERS 

The  intellectual  power  of  colonial  New  England 
was  centered  in  the  clergy.  Religion  was  the  busi 
ness  of  life ;  the  Bible  was  the  rule  of  action,  both 
public  and  private ;  the  state  was  a  theocracy,  and  the 
preachers  were  mighty  men  and  rulers  in  the  land. 
Only  church  members  were  permitted  to  powerof 
vote  in  town  meeting.  Absence  from  church  the  Cleisy 
service  was  punished  with  fines  and  the  stocks,  and  it 
was  the  sheriff's  duty  during  service  to  keep  the 
young  people  from  smiling  and  the  old  people  from 
dropping  to  sleep.  The  power  of  the  clergy,  exercised 
over  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  matters,  was  as 
august  as  the  sanctified  authority  of  priests  and 
kings. 

The  work  of  these  preachers  was  solemn,  laborious, 
enormous;  sermons  were  sometimes  two  and  three 
hours  long,  and  prayers  often  quite  as  long.  "Mr. 


34  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Tony  stood  up  and  prayed  near  two  hours,"  wrote  a 
Harvard  student,  "  but  the  time  obliged  him  to  close, 
to  our  regret."  In  the  absence  of  newspapers  and  all 
forms  of  popular  entertainment,  the  sermon  was  the 
absorbing  topic  of  social  interests.  "  Whether  men 
should  be  encouraged  in  the  use  of  means  toward 
their  conversion ; "  "  Whether  God  is  under  any  ob 
ligation  to  hear  and  answer  the  prayers  of  those  who 
The  work  of  are  unconverted ;  "  with  the  discussion  of 
the  Clergy  SUC]I  questions  as  these,  the  people  sharp 
ened  their  intellects  and  narrowed  their  souls.  The 
sermons  were  ponderous  and  elaborate,  laid  out  upon 
an  exhaustive  scale,  and  extending  sometimes  to  the 
"  twenty-eighthly,"  often  highly  rhetorical  and  largely 
devoted  to  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  Calvinism,  total 
depravity,  election,  and  eternal  punishment.  They 
display  vast  learning  and  strong  reasoning,  bearing 
witness  to  the  marvelous  intellectual  energy  of  both 
preachers  and  hearers ;  but  they  are  now  interesting 
mainly  as  remarkable  examples  of  a  doctrinal  earnest 
ness  that  has  passed  away,  perhaps  forever. 

Among  the  most  eminent  of  the  early  ministers  were 
Thomas  Hooker,  the   founder  of   Hartford,  Thomas 
Shepard,  the  "soul-melting  preacher"  of  Cambridge, 
and  that  "famous  man  of  God,"  John  Cot 
ton,  minister  of  the  first  church  of  Boston. 
In  learning  Cotton  was,  according  to  his  grandson,  Cot 
ton  Mather,  "  a  living  system  of  the  liberal  arts,  and  a 
walking  library";  but  of  some  forty  published  works, 


THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD 


35 


36  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

only  one  attained  to  long  life,  his  catechism  called 
"  Spiritual  Milk  for  Babes,"  included  in  the  famous 
"  New  England  Primer." 

The  Puritan  church  was  a  church  militant,  and 
the  preachers  were  generally  good  fighters.  The  "  old 
deluder  Sathan "  was  forever  reappearing  in  new 
forms  of  heresy  and  in  new  appeals  for  toleration, 
which  must  be  swept  away  by  panoplied  arguments 
A  Fighting  from  Scripture.  Skill  in  dialectics  was 
church  quite  as  essential  in  the  pulpit  as  holiness. 

It  was  the  fame  of  Francis  Higginson  to  be  "mighty 
iu  the  Scriptures,  learned  in  the  tongues,  able  to  con 
vince  gainsayers."  A  large  part  of  the  ponderous 
publications  of  these  sturdy  theologians  is  composed 
of  controversial  pamphlets  and  treatises,  and  it  is 
appalling  to  contemplate  the  amount  of  brain  force 
expended  upon  these  works  that  are  now  but  the  dry 
husks  of  principles  once  held  to  be  as  vitally  essential 
to  religion  as  to  theology. 

The  great  antagonist  of  Cotton  was  Roger  Williams, 
who  made  himself  obnoxious  to  the  Massachusetts 
Puritans  by  pushing  their  principle  of  religious  liberty 
to  its  logical  conclusion.  He  insisted  upon  toleration 

of  other  creeds,  as  of  the  Baptists  and 
Williams,  Quakers,  and  upon  freedom  of  conscience  in 

both  civil  and  religious  matters,  advocating 
what  is  now  understood  by  the  separation  of  Church 
and  State.  Banished  from  Massachusetts,  he  founded 
a  colony  in  Rhode  Island,  upon  the  basis  of  broad 


i]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  37 

toleration.  Williams  was  a  great-hearted  and  noble- 
minded  reformer,  the  fearless  champion  of  principles 
that  waited  until  our  own  time  for  victory,  but  like 
most  reformers  he  was  fired  with  an  indiscreet  zeal 
that  often  verged  upon  fanaticism.  He  was  a  vigor 
ous  and  voluminous  writer,  his  main  theme  being 
"  Christian  libertie " ;  his  chief  work,  "  The  Bloody 
Tenet  of  Persecution,"  was  published  in  1644,  the 
year  in  which  Milton's  grand  plea  for  liberty,  the 
"  Areopagitica,"  appeared. 

Unlike  most  of  the  Puritan  leaders,  Roger  Williams 
was  kind  to  the  Indians.  "  My  soul's  desire  was  to 
do  the  natives  good,"  he  says ;  and  in  this  spirit  he 
spent  much  time  among  them,  preaching  and  studying 
their  language;  and  to  facilitate  such  missionary  work, 
he  wrote  a  "  Key  into  the  Language  of  America."  But 
the  one  great  "Apostle  to  the  Indians"  was  John 
Eliot,  whose  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Algon 
quin  language  was  the  first  Bible  printed  j0iin  E1j0tf 
in  America.  He  believed  the  Indians  to  be  I6°4-I69° 
descended  from  the  ten  lost  tribes  of  Israel ;  and  to  their 
education  and  Christianization  he  devoted  a  life  of  the 
most  rigorous  toil  and  sacrifice,  acting  as  their  friend 
and  defender  at  times  when  the  colonists  were  deter 
mined  upon  their  extermination.  "  I  have  sometimes 
doubted,"  says  Hawthorne,  "  whether  there  was  more 
than  a  single  man  among  our  forefathers  who  realized 
that  an  Indian  possessed  a  mind  and  a  heart  and  an 
immortal  soul.  That  single  man  was  John  Eliot." 


38  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

The  most  celebrated  of  the  theological  giants  who 
ruled  New  England  were  the  chief  members  of  the 
Mather  family, —  a  veritable  tribe  of  Levi, —  ten  of 
whom  became  clergymen  within  three  generations. 
The  Mather  Tne  founder  of  the  "  Mather  Dynasty  " 
Dynasty  was  Richard,  who  came  to  New  England 
in  1635.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Oxford,  a  distinguished 
classical  scholar,  a  voracious  reader  and  voluminous 
writer,  and  a  famous  preacher  in  Old  England  as  well 
as  in  New  England,  with  a  voice  "  loud  and  big  "  that 
"  procured  unto  his  ministry  an  awful  and  very  taking 
majesty."  Four  of  the  six  sons  of  Eichard  became 
preachers,  the  greatest  of  whom  was  Increase,  born 
at  Dorchester,  in  1639.  He  entered  Harvard  College 
increase  a^  ^we^ve>  began  to  preach  at  nineteen,  and 
Mather,  after  a  course  of  study  at  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  was  settled  over  the  North  Church 
of  Boston;  where,  "wielding  the  most  tremendous 
weapon  of  influence  known  in  such  a  community,  he 
continued  to  fulminate,  to  the  delight  of  his  adherents, 
to  the  great  terror  of  his  foes,  for  almost  sixty  years." 
He  was  a  stupendous  worker,  spending  sixteen  hours  a 
day  at  his  studies,  and  a  powerful  pulpit  orator,  with  a 
voice  like  his  father's,  which  he  used  "  with  such  a  toni- 
truous  cogency,"  says  his  son  Cotton,  "that  the  hearers 
would  be  struck  with  an  awe  like  what  would  be  pro 
duced  on  the  fall  of  thunderbolts."  Of  his  nearly  one 
hundred  published  works,  only  one  retains  a  living 
interest,  "An  Essay  for  the  Recording  of  Illustrious 


i]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  39 

Providences."  Many  of  the  stories  in  this  weird  Puri 
tan  storybook  —  "  remarkable  sea  deliverances,"  "  re- 
markables  about  thunder  and  lightning,"  judgments 
upon  Quakers,  "demons  and  possessed  persons," 
and  "  apparitions  "  —  are  well  told,  and  illustrate  the 
strange  mixture  of  piety,  superstition,  and  ignorance 
of  natural  laws  habitual  to  the  thought  of  the  best 
minds  of  that  period. 

The  most  gigantic  Mather  of  all  was  the  eldest  of 
the  ten  children  of  Increase,  Cotton  Mather,  "the 
literary  behemoth  of  New  England."  He  was  born 
in  1G63,  entered  Harvard  at  eleven,  was  preaching  at 
seventeen,  and  at  twenty-two  became  associated  with 
his  father  in  the  pastorate  of  the  North  Church,  where 
he  remained  until  removed  by  death  in  1728.  He 
was  a  prodigy  of  learning  and  laborious  piety,  possess 
ing  a  marvelous  memory  and  an  enormous  capacity 
and  zeal  for  work.  Indeed,  the  term  "prodigious- 
ness"  best  expresses  the  summary  of  his  qualities. 
Like  Bacon,  he  chose  all  knowledge  for  his 

Cotton 

province,  and  made  vast  conquests  in  his   Mather, 
chosen  field.     His  library  was  the  largest  l663"1728 
in  America.     He  knew  seven  languages,  studied  and 
wrote  incessantly,  and  published  over  three  hundred 
and  eighty  works.     Body  and    spirit   he   disciplined 
with  ascetic  strictness ;   in  a  single  year,  besides  his 
regular  church  work,   he  is  said  to   have   published 
fourteen  books,  kept  twenty  vigils  and  sixty  fasts. 
When  troubled  about  the  publication  of  his  "  Church 


40 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE 


[CHAP. 


History,"  he  "  set  apart  a  vigil,"  he  says ;  "  in  the 
dead  of  the  night,  I  first  sang  some  agreeable  psalms, 
and  then  casting  myself  prostrate  into  the  dust,  on 
my  study  floor,  before  the  Lord,  I  confessed  unto  him 
the  sins  for  which  he  might  justly  reject  me  and  all  my 

services."  So  devotedly 
attentive  to  God's  will, 
and  so  restlessly  ener 
getic  in  the  execution 
of  that  will  on  earth,  as 
he  interpreted  it,  he 
naturally  was  foremost 
among  the  prosecutors 
of  the  witchcraft  vic 
tims;  and  his  "Won 
ders  of  the  Invisible 
World,"  containing  an 
account  of  the  Salem 
trials  and  executions, 
is  an  awful  warning  of  the  possible  extent  to  which 
the  human  understanding  may  be  perverted. 

The  greatest  work  of  Mather,  and  the  only  one  to 
be  discussed  as  literature,  is  the  "Magnalia  Christi 
Americana;  or,  The  Ecclesiastical  History  of  New 
England,"  a  work  of  vast  proportions,  in  plan  some- 
The  what  like  the  "  Worthies "  and  "  Church 

"Magnalia"  History"  of  Thomas  Fuller.  It  is  a 
wonderful  book,  "  a  bulky  thing,"  as  the  author  called 
it,  of  over  one  thousand  folio  pages ;  it  contains  the 


Cotton  Mather 


i]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  41 

history  of  the  settlement  of  New  England,  the  lives  of 
governors  and  famous  divines,  the  history  of  Harvard 
College,  "many  illustrious  wonderful  providences," 
and  finally  "  A  Book  of  the  Wars  of  the  Lord."  The 
book  is  a  treasure-house  of  historical  information, 
quaintly  mingled  with  the  errors,  conceits,  and  pedan 
tries  of  the  author.  From  the  pages  of  this  "  prose 
epic  of  New  England  Puritanism,"  as  it  has  been 
called,  Hawthorne  drew  his  biography  of  Sir  William 
Phipps,  and  Whittier  the  material  for  his  "  Garrison 
of  Cape  Anne."  Its  style  is  the  ponderous,  multitu 
dinous,  fantastic  style  of  the  last  Elizabethans,  Fuller, 
Burton,  and  Sir  Thomas  Browne  ;  the  pages  are  heavily 
decorated  with  quotations  from  the  dead  languages, 
strained  antitheses,  and  absurd  puns,  all  duly  italicized 
lest  the  reader  should  miss  the  point ;  the  thought  often 
is  quite  lost  in  the  confusion  of  a  pedantic  display  of 
inapposite  learning.  Yet  the  "  Magnalia  "  has  merits, 
thinks  Professor  Wendell,  that  should  place  it  "  among 
the  great  works  of  English  literature  in  the  seventeenth 
century." l  An  illustrative  passage  will  be  worth 
more  than  description  or  criticism.  The  following 
is  from  the  beginning  of  Chapter  I  of  the  second  part 
of  the  History  of  Harvard  College  :  — 

1  "Life  of  Cotton  Mather,"  by  Barrett  Wendell,  p.  161. 


42  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 


FIDES  IN  VITA  ;  OR,  THE  LIFE  OF  MR.   JOHN  BROCK 

Olim  fides  erat  in  vita,  magis  quam  in  articulorum  professione. 

—  ERASM.  EPIST. 

§  1.  DESIGNING  to  write  the  lives  of  some  learned  men,  who 
have  been  the  issue  and  the  honour  of  Harvard-Colledge,  let 
my  reader  be  rather  admonished  than  scandalized  by  it,  if 
the  first  of  these  lives  exhibit  one  whose  goodness  was  above 
his  learning,  and  whose  chief  learning  was  his  goodness.  If 
one  had  asked  Mr.  John  Brock  that  question  in  Antoninus, 
ris  <r8  TJ  rtxvri  '•  "Of  what  art  hast  thou  proceeded  master  ?  " 
he  might  have  truly  answered,  'AyaObv  thai:  "My  art  is  to 
be  good.''  He  was  a  good  grammarian,  chiefly  in  this,  that  he 
"  still  spoke  the  truth  from  his  heart."  He  was  a  good  logician, 
chiefly  in  this,  that  he  "presented  himself  unto  God  with  a 
reasonable  service."  He  was  a  good  arithmetician,  chiefly  in 
this,  that  he  "so  numbered  his  days  as  to  apply  his  heart  unto 
wisdom."  He  was  a  good  astronomer,  chiefly  in  this,  that  his 
"conversation  was  in  heaven."  It  was  chiefly  by  being  a  good 
Christian  that  he  proved  himself  a  good  artist.  The  eulogy 
which  Gregory  the  Great  bestow'd  on  Stephen  the  monk,  erat 
hiijus  lingua  rustica,  sed  docta  vita;  so  much  belong'd  unto 
this  good  man,  that  so  learned  a  life  may  well  be  judg'd  worthy 
of  being  a  written  one. 

§  3.  He  was  admitted  into  Harvard-Colledge  A. D.  1643,  where 
he  studied  for  several  years,  with  an  exemplary  diligence  ;  being 
of  the  opinion,  as  Caleb  said  unto  his  men,  "  I  bestow  my 
daughter  upon  one  of  you,  but  he  that  will  have  her,  must  first 
win  Kiriath-Sepher ;  i.e.  a  city  of  books";  thus,  one  is  not 
worthy  to  have  a  church  bestow'd  upon  him,  until  he  hath 
sometime  lain  before  Kiriath-Sepher,  and  staid  at  some  univer 
sity.  After  five  years  lying  here  (as  loth  to  be  one  of  the 
sacerdotes  momentandi.  or  modd  idiotce,  mox  clerici,  sometimes 
by  the  ancients  complained  of)  he  entered  upon  the  work  of 
the  evangelical  ministry  ;  first  at  Rowly,  and  then  at  the  Isle 
of  Sholes.  Here  Scaliger  might  have  indeed  found  "  wisdom 


i]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  43 

inhabiting  the  rocks,"  and  here  a  spiritual  fisherman  did  more 
than  a  little  good  among  the  rude  company  of  literal  ones. 

The  "Magnalia"  was   published   in   1702,   and    it 
marks  the  close  of  a  great  period  of  English  prose. 
Even   Mather's    friends    recognized    the    antiquated 
character  of  his  style,  and  his    son  condemned  his 
"  straining   for  far-fetched    and    dear-bought    hints." 
The  models  upon  which  the  "  Magnalia  "    A  New  Era 
was  wrought  were    already   worn    out   in    of  English 
England.     The  stately,  brocaded   style  of 
Milton  and  Browne,  as  well  as  the  fantastic  prose  of 
Burton's  "Anatomy  of  Melancholy,"  had  disappeared. 
Out  of  the  easy,  crisp,  and  elegant  prose  of  the  Res 
toration  comedy,  Dryden,  Steele,  and  Addison  created 
a   new   medium   of   literary    expression,   the   simple, 
direct  style  of  the  modern  prose  essay. 

JONATHAN   EDWARDS 
1703-1758 

In  the  year  after  the  publication  of  the  "  Magnalia," 
Jonathan  Edwards  was  born,  the  most  profound 
thinker  produced  by  New  England  theology.  The 
contrast  between  Mather  and  Edwards  is  that  between 
the  seventeenth  and  the  eighteenth  century,  between 
Milton  and  Locke.  Through  Edwards  tlieology— ad 
vanced  to jphilpsophy,  and  sermonizing  to  an  apprecia 
tion  and  exemplification  of  literary  style. 

te  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  a  preacher 


44  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAA 

at  Northampton  for  twenty-three  years,  a  missionary 
to  the  Indians  at  Stockbridge  seven  years,  and  a  few 
weeks  before  his  death  was  made  president  of  Prince 
ton  College.  He  was  a  marvel  of  youthful  precocity, 
easily  outstripping  his  teachers  in  the  apprehension 
Precocious  °f  new  truths  in  science  and  philosophy, 
intellect  At  twelve  he  wrote  a  conclusive  argument 
against  the  notion  of  a  material  soul ;  at  fourteen, 
when  a  sophomore  in  college,  he  read  Locke's  "Essay 
on  the  Human  Understanding"  with  greater  delight, 
he  says,  "than  the  most  greedy  miser  finds  when 
gathering  up  handfuls  of  silver  and  gold  from  some 
newly  discovered  treasure."  Before  his  eighteenth 
year  he  had  anticipated  Berkeley's  theory  of  idealism 
in  such  memoranda  of  metaphysical  speculation  as 
these:  "The  material  universe  exists  only  in  the 
mind,"  "All  material  existence  is  only  idea."  In 
physical  science,  also,  he  made  many  remarkably  pro 
phetic  suggestions ;  for  example,  coming  nearer  than 
any  one  else  to  Franklin  in  his  explanation  of  the 
phenomena  of  lightning. 

He  was  a  man  of  gracious  and  tender  spirit,  sus 
ceptible  to  the  poetic  influences  of  nature,  a  lover  of 
sweetness  and  beauty  and  ideal  holiness.  "He  was 
Personal  a  religious  genius  of  the  first  order,"  says 
Qualities  Whipple,  "and  one  of  the  holiest  souls 
that  ever  appeared  on  the  planet."  But  he  could 
not  escape  the  influence  of  inherited  beliefs,  and  while 
the  natural  tendency  of  his  mind  was  toward  a  new 


i]  THE   COLONIAL  PERIOD  45 

era  of  science,  art,  and  poetry,  he  held  his  thinking 
rigidly  to  the  doctrines  of  his  fathers,  and  preached 
the  orthodox  terrors  of  Calvinism  with  a  power  in 
proportion  to  his  splendid  intellect  and  his  deep,  soul- 
absorbing  sincerity.  His  hearers,  it  is  said,  would 
writhe  in  agony  under  the  burning  logic  of  his  ser 
mons.  A  passage  from  the  famous  Enfield  sermon, 
entitled  "  Sinners  in  the  Hands  of  an  Angry  God," 
will  show  the  vividness  and  directness  of  his 
method :  — 

God  is  a  great  deal  more  angry  with  great  numbers  that 
are  now  on  earth  ;  yea,  doubtless,  with  many  that  are  now  in 
this  congregation,  that,  it  may  be,  are  at  ease  and  quiet,  than 
He  is  with  many  of  those  that  are  now  in  the  flames  of  hell. 
So  that  it  is  not  because  God  is  unmindful  of  their  wickedness, 
and  does  not  resent  it,  that  He  does  not  let  loose  His  hand  and 
cut  them  off.  God  is  not  altogether  such  an  one  as  themselves, 
though  they  imagine  him  to  be  so.  The  wrath  of  God  burns 
against  them  ;  their  damnation  does  not  slumber ;  the  pit  is 
prepared ;  the  fire  is  made  ready  ;  the  furnace  is  now  hot ; 
ready  to  receive  them  ;  the  flames  do  now  rage  and  glow.  The 
glittering  sword  is  whet  and  held  over  them,  and  the  pit  hath 
opened  her  mouth  under  them.  The  devil  stands  ready  to  fall 
upon  them,  and  seize  them  as  his  own,  at  what  moment  God 
shall  permit  him. 

It  is  pleasant  to  compare  with  this  soul-harrowing 
sermon  his  contemplations  of  the  beauty  of  holiness, 
which  represent  the  ideal  and  poetic  side  of  his 
being:  — 

Holiness,  as  I  then  wrote  down  some  of  my  contemplations 
on  it,  appeared  to  me  to  be  of  a  sweet,  pleasant,  charming, 


46  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

serene,  calm  nature  ;  which  brought  an  inexpressible  purity, 
brightness,  peacefulness  and  ravishment  to  the  soul.  In  other 
words,  that  it  made  the  soul  like  a  field  or  garden  of  God,  with 
all  manner  of  pleasant  flowers  ;  enjoying  a  sweet  calm,  and  the 
gently  vivifying  beams  of  the  sun.  The  soul  of  a  true  Christian, 
as  I  then  wrote  my  meditations,  appeared  like  such  a  little  white 
flower  as  we  see  in  the  spring  of  the  year  ;  low  and  humble  on 
the  ground,  opening  its  bosom  to  receive  the  pleasant  beams  of 
the  sun's  glory  ;  rejoicing,  as  it  were  in  a  calm  rapture  ;  diffus 
ing  around  a  sweet  fragrancy  ;  standing  peacefully  and  lovingly, 
in  the  midst  of  other  flowers  round  about ;  all  in  like  manner 
opening  their  bosoms,  to  drink  in  the  light  of  the  sun. 

The  work  that  brought  Edwards  a  world-wide  fame, 
"  The  Inquiry  into  the  Freedom  of  the  Will,"  is  the 
most  important  bulwark  ever  raised  in  defense  of 
Calvinistic  theology.  Its  purpose  was  to  reconcile 
the  dogmas  of  Calvin  with  the  principles  of  sound 
••Freedom  thought,  its  central  proposition  being  that 
of  the  will"  "the  will  is  not  self-determined,"  as  other 
wise  there  could  not  be  an  all-ruling  God.  This  work 
still  stands  as  a  marvelous  monument  of  profound 
and  subtle  reasoning,  but  with  the  advancement  of 
religious  thinking  it  has  lost  its  force  as  a  final 
explanation  of  the  relations  existing  between  the 
mind  of  God  and  the  mind  of  man.  Its  chief 
interest  to  the  present  age  is  that  of  a  historic 
problem  in  metaphysics.  In  other  of  his  writings, 
however,  such  as  the  "Treatise  on  the  Religious 
Affections,"  Edwards  appeals  to  the  finer  spirit  of 
every  age  with  a  pure,  gentle,  radiant,  and  exalted 
sense  of  the  nobler  truths  of  life.  "His  thought," 


i]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  47 

says  Professor  Smyth,  "is  pervaded  by  a  spiritual 
insight  which  has  an  original  and  undying  worth. 
It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  future  will  assign  him  a 
higher  rank  than  the  past."  : 

COLONIAL  POETRY 

From  the  time  that  Sir  Philip  Sidney  was  con 
strained  to  write  his  noble  "Apologie  for  Poetrie," 
the  Puritans  had  been  hostile  to  poetry,  identifying 
it  with  profligacy,  and  associating  both  with  court 
and  cavaliers.  The  drama  was  abhorred,  Art  and 
music  was  condemned,  and  the  impressive  Puritanism 
lessons  of  ecclesiastical  architecture  were  rejected; 
every  form  of  art  associated  with  the  church  which 
they  had  renounced  was  regarded  as  a  part  of  the 
devil's  devices  for  entangling  their  souls  in  worldli- 
ness.  Even  the  splendid  protest  of  Milton's  work  did 
not  rescue  music  and  poetry  from  this  overwhelming 
prejudice. 

The  isolation  and  the  rigorous  occupations  of  the 
'New  England  Puritans  naturally  tended  to  widen 
this  breach  between  art  and  life.  Not  only  were  the 
influences  of  art  absent  from  their  lives,  but  there  is 
almost  no  evidence  of  an  appreciation  of  natural 
beauty.  The  nature  with  which  they  came  in  con 
tact  was,. as  Governor  Bradford  expressed  it,  "but  a 
hideous  and  desolate  wilderness,  full  of  wild  beasts 

1  Egbert  C.  Smyth,  "Library  of  the  World's  Best  Literature." 


48  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

and  wild  men."  The  beauty  and  grandeur  of  a  pri 
meval  world,  and  the  romantic  features  of  their  own 
lives  did  not  impress  them;  the  poetic  red  men  of 
Longfellow  and  Cooper  had  no  existence  for  them. 
Keligion,  with  which  their  minds  were  absorbed,  was 
made  forbidding  by  its  unlovely  externals,  and  life 
itself  was  made  unhappy  by  the  perverted  methods 
of  making  it  holy.  This  renouncement  of  all  aesthetic 
influences  left  an  impress  upon  the  character  of  Xew 
England  that  is  even  yet  visible,  like  the  barren 
stretches  of  rock  that  scar  its  green-robed  mountain 
sides  in  summer. 

Song  and  fancy,  however,  cannot  be  wholly  sup 
pressed,  even  by  the  severest  social  conditions ;  the 
love  of  rhythm  is  natural  and  inevitable.  In  spite  of 
the  prevailing  austerity  there  was  a  deal  of  verse- 
making  among  the  sober  colonists.  Even  the  gravest 

of  them,  like  Governor  Bradford  and  Gov- 
Puritan 

verse-  ernor  Dudley,  occasionally   revealed   this 

human  frailty.  The  great  John  Cotton 
stealthily  wrote  verses  in  his  almanac,  prudently 
using  the  Greek  alphabet  for  better  concealment. 
A  sufficiently  solemn  occasion  would  excuse  an  open 
indulgence;  hence  we  find  their  ponderous  writings 
adorned  with  epitaphs  and  elegies,  and  many  a  lichen- 
grown  gravestone  still  testifies  to  their  struggles  to 
express  some  freak  of  fancy  in  punning  rhymes.  The 
"Magnalia"  is  a  storehouse  of  these  products  of  the 
"mortuary  muse.''  A  poem  by  "  J.  S."  upon  the  death 


i]  THE    COLONIAL   PERIOD  49 

of  "  that  supereminent  minister,"  Jonathan  Mitchell, 
begins  thus :  — 

Here  lies  the  darling  of  his  time, 
Mitchell  expired  in  his  prime  ; 
Who  four  years  short  of  forty  seven, 
Was  found  full  ripe  and  plucked  for  heaven. 

and  ends  with  the  writer's  pious  regret  that  he  has 
not  the  power  to  "  weep  an  everlasting  shower." 

This  solemn  trifling  with  the  poet's  art  now  only 
provokes  laughter;  but  if  it  produced  no  poetry,  it 
at  least  preserved  the  traditions  of  poetry.  Unfor 
tunately  these  reverend  versifiers  imitated  the  worst 
models  in  English  literature,  the  quaint  conceits  of 
Donne,  Quarles,  Herbert,  Vaughan,  and  others  of  the 
"fantastic"  school  of  decadent  Elizabethans,  who 
mistook  ingenuity  for  genius.  Hardly  a  verse  of  all 
they  wrote  would  now  pass  for  poetry,  but  the  heaven- 
born  spark  was  kept  alive  until  a  more  propitious 
period.  A  reaction  in  favor  of  art  and  the  beautiful 
was  inevitable,  and  it  came  with  the  unshackling  of 
men's  minds  in  the  period  of  the  Kevolution.  More 
over,  Puritanism  itself  possessed  elements  of  poetry 
• — in  its  sublime  faith,  lofty  spiritual  ideals,  and  im 
aginative  conceptions  of  the  future  state  —  that  were 
to  be  splendidly  developed  in  the  early  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  when  the  soul  of  New  England 
began  to  expand  with  the  first  full  joys  of  enfran 
chisement. 


50  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

The  first  English  book  published  in  America,  if 
we  except  an  almanac,  was  the  "Bay  Psalm  Book," 
printed  at  Cambridge  in  16^0  in  the  house  of  Presi 
dent  Dunster.  This  literary  curiosity,  copies  of  which 
"  Bay  Psalm  are  rare  an^  costly,  is  probably  the  most 

Book"  remarkable  perversion  of  the  poetic  prin 
ciple  extant  in  the  language.  The  "chief  divines  in 
the  country,"  according  to  Mather,  united  in  the  effort 
to  put  the  original  Hebrew  psalms  into  an  English 
form  that  should  be  poetical,  yet  not  too  poetical  to 
be  used  in  the  churches  without  scandal.  A  specimen 
of  their  work  (from  the  fifty-first  psalm)  will  illus 
trate  the  success  of  this  attempt  at  compounding 
between  art  and  conscience:  — 

Create  in  mee  cleane  heart  at  last 

God  :  a  right  spirit  in  me  new  make. 
Nor  from  thy  presence  quite  me  cast, 

thy  holy  spright  not  from  me  take. 
Mee  thy  salvations  joy  restore, 

and  stay  me  with  thy  spirit  free. 
I  will  transgressors  teach  thy  lore, 

and  sinners  shall  be  turned  to  thee. 

For  more  than  a  century  these  contorted  verses 
were  sung  in  the  churches  by  the  method  of  "  deacon 
ing  "  or  "  lining,"  each  line  being  read  separately  by 
the  deacon  and  then  repeated  by  the  congregation; 
they  were  even  used  by  the  Dissenters  in  England 
and  Scotland.  The  chief  perpetrators  of  this  pious 
atrocity  were  John  Eliot,  the  Indian  apostle,  Thomas 


i]  THE   COLONIAL  PERIOD  51 

Wilde,  and  Richard  Mather,  all  university  men, 
acquainted  with  real  poetry,  and  themselves  writers 
of  good  prose;  it  is  not  surprising  therefore  to  hear 
them  say  apologetically  in  their  preface:  "If  the  verses 
are  not  alwayes  so  smooth  and  elegant  as  some  may 
desire  or  expect;  let  them  consider  that  Gods  altar 
needs  not  our  pollishings:  Ex.  20,  for  we  have  re 
spected  rather  a  plaine  translation,  then  to  smooth 
our  verses  with  the  sweetnes  of  any  paraphrase,  and 
soe  have  attended  Conscience  rather  then  Elegance, 
fidelity  rather  then  poetry." 

Our  first  professed,  if  not  professional,  poet  was 
Mistress  Anne  Bradstreet,  daughter  of  Governor  Dud 
ley  and  wife  of  Governor  Bradstreet.  She  was  born 
and  educated  in  England,  under  influences  favorable 
for  the  growth  of  a  literary  taste.  At  sixteen  she  was 
married,  and  two  years  later  went  to  her  Ann 
new  home  in  the  Massachusetts  wilder-  Bradstreet, 
ness.  The  "Bradstreet  Farm"  is  still 
pointed  out  near  Andover.  Her  "  heart  rose  "  at  first, 
she  says,  against  this  change  from  an  atmosphere  of 
wealth  and  refinement  to  a  harsh  pioneer  life  among 
militant  saints,  Indians,  and  wolves ;  but  she  accepted 
her  exile  as  God's  will,  and  lightened  the  burdens 
of  a  long  life  with  the  consolations  of  literature.  The 
determination  with  which  she  cultivated  her  slender 
poetic  gifts,  under  conditions  of  continuous  hardship 
and  ill-health,  with  the  care  of  her  "  eight  birds  hatcht 
in  one  nest,"  compels  admiration  and  restrains  criti- 


52  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

cism.  Another  form  of  discouragement  she  had  to 
face,  also,  for  she  writes  :  — 

•    I  am  obnoxious  to  each  carping  tongue, 
Who  says  my  hand  a  needle  better  fits. 

Her  poems  were  published  in  London  in  1650,  under 
a  high-sounding  title  for  which  she  was  not  responsi 
ble  :  "  The  Tenth  Muse  lately  sprung  up  in  America  ; 
"The Tenth  or>  General  Poems,  compiled  with  a  great 
Muse"  variety  of  wit  and  learning,  full  of  de 

light,"  etc.  The  extravagance  of  the  title-page  was 
even  surpassed  by  the  praises  with  which  her  poems 
were  hailed  at  home.  Cotton  Mather  pronounced 
them  to  be  "a  monument  to  her  memory  beyond 
the  stateliest  marbles."  President  Eogers  of  Harvard 
found  himself  while  reading  her  verses  "sunk  in  a 
sea  of  bliss"  and  "weltering  in  delight."  The  Rev. 
John  Norton  declared  in  a  "Dirge  for  the  Tenth 
Muse  "  that  were  Virgil  to  hear 

her  lively  strain 
He  would  condemn  his  works  to  fire  again. 

Notwithstanding  the  questionable  propriety  of  her 
performance,  as  an  evidence  of  the  intellectual  possi 
bilities  of  the  New  World,  the  colonists  were  proud  of 
their  singer  whose  voice  had  sounded  to  far-away  Eng 
land.  Besides,  her  muse  was  decorously  serious,  and 
offered  her  readers  much  useful  knowledge.  Her 
principal  poems,  "The  Four  Elements,"  "The  Four 
Seasons,"  and  "The  Four  Monarchies,"  a  rhymed 


i]  THE    COLONIAL   PERIOD  53 

condensation  of  Raleigh's  "  History  of  the  World," 
are  ponderous,  mechanical,  and  dull.  Generally  the 
art  is  crude  and  the  tone  didactic  and  melancholy, 
but  in  the  short  poem,  "  Contemplations,"  there  are 
touches  of  a  genuine  and  delicate  feeling  for  natural 
beauty  that  prove  her  right  to  the  name  of  poet. 
Here  is  the  beginning  of  American  nature  poetry 
in  the  love  of  this  Puritan  wife  for  the  "pathless 
paths"  among  the  "trees  all  richly  clad"  in  the 
golden  tints  of  the  "  autumnal  tide." 

Under  the  cooling  shadow  of  a  stately  Elm, 

Close  sate  I  by  a  goodly  Rivers  side, 
Where  gliding  streams  the  Rocks  did  overwhelm  ; 

A  lonely  place  with  pleasures  dignifi'd. 
I  once  that  lov'd  the  shady  woods  so  well, 
Now  thought  the  rivers  did  the  trees  excel, 
And  if  the  sun  would  ever  shine  there  would  I  dwell. 

***** 
While  musing  thus  with  contemplation  fed, 

And  thousand  fancies  buzzing  in  my  brain, 
The  sweet  tongu'd  Philomel  percht  ore  my  head, 

And  chanted  forth  a  most  melodious  strain, 
Which  rapt  me  so  with  wonder  and  delight, 
I  judg'd  my  hearing  better  then  my  sight, 
And  wisht  me  wings  with  her  awhile  to  take  my  flight. 

In  such  verses  there  is  evidence  of  what  Mistress 
Bradstreet  might  have  been  with  a  more  favorable 
environment.  Quite  as  strong  evidence,  perhaps,  of 
her  inherent  poetic  qualities  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
among  her  lineal  descendants  were  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes,  Richard  H.  Dana,  Wendell  Phillips,  the 


54  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Channings,  and  other  literary  leaders  of  New  Eng 
land. 

One  other  verse-maker  of  this  period  has  a  unique 
celebrity,  Michael  Wigglesworth,  whose  "Day  of 
Doom ;  or,  A  poetical  description  of  the  great  and 
last  Judgment,"  was  for  more  than  a  hundred  years 
Michael  wi  -  "the  one  supreme  poem  of  Puritan  New 
giesworth,  England."  Wigglesworth  was  a  clergy 
man,  "a  little,  feeble  shadow  of  a  man,'-' 
according  to  Mather,  with  a  soul  burning  with  reli 
gious  zeal.  He  was  a  prolific  rhymer,  using  generally 
a  simple,  sing-song  ballad  measure  that  readily  caught 
the  popular  ear.  His  masterpiece,  published  in  1G62, 
is  a  veritable  "Epic  of  Hades,"  giving  a  realistic  and 
vigorous  presentation  of  the  doctrines  of  Calvinism 
carried  to  their  full  logical  results  in  the  next  world. 
The  poem  opens  with  a  description  of  the  heedless 
"Day of  world  given  over  to  sensual  delight;  sud- 
Doom"  denly  the  last  trump  sounds,  the  graves 
are  opened,  and  the  living  and  the  dead  are  sum 
moned  before  Christ,  the  awful  Judge. 

His  winged  Hosts  flie  through  all  Coasts, 

together  gathering 
Both  good  and  bad,  both  quick  and  dead, 

and  all  to  Judgment  bring. 

The  wicked  try  in  vain  to  hide  "in  Caves  and 
Delves";  the  "blind  Heathen"  plead  ignorance  of 
their  "  degenerate  estate,"  having  had  only  "  Nature's 
Light"  to  guide  them;  and  the  children  who  died  in 


i]  THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  55 

infancy  plead    the   injustice   of  being   punished   for 
"Adam's  guilt":  — 

Not  we,  but  he  ate  of  the  Tree, 

whose  fruit  was  interdicted : 
Yet  on  us  all  of  his  sad  Fall, 

the  punishment's  inflicted. 

The  terrible  doom  is  pronounced,  and  all  are  driven 
away  to  the  "  Brimstone  Flood  " :  — 

As  chaff  that's  dry,  and  dust  doth  fly 

before  the  Northern  wind : 
Right  so  are  they  chased  away, 

and  can  no  Refuge  find. 
They  hasten  to  the  Pit  of  Woe; 

guarded  by  Angels  stout ; 
Who  to  fulfil  Christ's  holy  will 

attend  their  wicked  Rout. 

Meanwhile  the  elect  are  transported  rejoicing  to  the 

"  blessed  state  of  the  Renate  " :  — 

The  Saints  behold  with  courage  bold, 

and  thankful  wonderment, 
To  see  all  those  that  were  their  foes 

thus  sent  to  punishment  .  .  . 
Thus  with  great  joy  and  melody 

to  Heav'n  they  all  ascend, 
Him  there  to  praise  with  sweetest  layes 

and  Hymns  that  never  end. 

Before  the  Revolution  this  poem,  which  one  now 
can  hardly  read  without  a  shudder,  was  universally 
committed  to  memory  as  a  precious  embodiment  of 


56  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

the  most  vital  truths  pertaining  to  the  human  soul. 
Children  were  required  to  repeat  it>  with  the  cate 
chism.  Its  circulation,  in  proportion  to  population, 
was  greater  than  that  of  the  most  popular  novel  of 
to-day.  "  It  was  the  solace,"  says  Lowell,  "  of  every 
fireside,  the  flicker  of  the  pine-knots  by  which  it  was 
conned  perhaps  adding  a  livelier  relish  to  its  pre 
monitions  of  eternal  combustion." 

While  Wiggles  worth  was  writing  the  "Day  of  Doom," 
Milton  was  writing  "Paradise  Lost,"  two  extremes  that  pre 
sent  a  striking  antithesis  of  Calvinism  in  its  meanness  and  in 
its  magnificence.  Four  years  before  Wigglesworth's  death 
Pope's  "  Essay  on  Criticism  "  and  Addison's  "  Spectator  "  ap 
peared.  While  Anne  Bradstreet  was  toiling  with  her  "  Four 

Monarchies,"  Herrick,  Waller,  Lovelace,  and 
Contemporary  otner  Cavalier  poets  were  writing  their  charm- 
Literature  mS  lyrics,  and  Isaac  Walton  was  meditating  his 

"Complete  Angler."  Jeremy  Taylor's  "Holy 
Living"  appeared  the  same  year  with  the  "Tenth  Muse." 
But  these  influences  did  not  touch  New  England.  Nearly 
everything  in  English  literature  from  the  death  of  Shakspere,  in 
1616,  to  the  death  of  Dryden,  in  1700,  was  under  the  ban  of 
Puritan  prejudice.  The  strongest  poetic  influence  was  that  of 
Sylvester's  translation  of  the  "Divine  Weeks  and  Works" 
of  the  Huguenot  Du  Bartas,  Anne  Bradstreet's  "great,  dear, 
sweet  Bartas."  Slowly  during  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  influence  of  Dryden  and  Pope  was  working  with 
liberal  minds,  especially  outside  New  England.  In  1747 
William  Livingston,  of  New  Jersey,  published  "  Philosophic 
Solitude,"  a  poem  in  close  imitation  of  the  manner  and  spirit 
of  Pope.  In  1765  the  poems  of  Thomas  Godfrey  appeared  in 
Philadelphia,  among  them  being  "The  Prince  of  Parthia,"  a 
tragedy  in  blank  verse,  which  Tyler  regards  as  a  "noble  be 
ginning  of  dramatic  literature  in  America." 


THE   COLONIAL   PERIOD  57 


HISTORICAL  BACKGROUND 

Palfrey's  "Compendious  History  of  New  England,"  Vol.  I, 
Bk.  I,  chaps.  5-13;  Bk.  II,  chaps.  1,  2.  Bancroft's  "History 
of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  I,  chaps.  6,  7,  12,  15,  16,  19. 
Lodge's  "History  of  the  English  Colonies  in  America," 
chap.  22.  Eggleston's  "  The  Beginners  of  a  Nation  "  and  "  The 
Transit  of  Civilization."  Doyle's  "The  English  in  America." 
Fiske's  "Beginnings  of  New  England";  "Old  Virginia  and 
her  Neighbors"  ;  "The  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies."  Camp 
bell's  "The  Puritan  in  Holland,  England,  and  America," 
Vol.  II,  chaps.  22,  23.  Byington's  "The  Puritan  in  England 
and  New  England."  Tyler's  "History  of  American  Litera 
ture  during  Colonial  Times."  Thwaites's  "The  Colonies" 
(Epochs  of  American  History).  Fisher's  "Colonial  Era." 
Drake's  "The  Making  of  Virginia  and  the  Middle  Colo 
nies";  "The  Making  of  New  England."  Cooke's  "Vir 
ginia."  Parkman's  "Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,"  chaps.  4,  5. 
Warner's  "Captain  John  Smith."  Wendell's  "Cotton 
Mather."  Marvin's  "The  Life  and  Times  of  Cotton  Mather." 
Higginson's  "Francis  Higginson."  Twichell's  -'John  Win- 
throp"  (Makers  of  America).  Mrs.  Campbell's  "Anne  Brad- 
street  and  her  Times."  Chamberlain's  "Samuel  Sewall  and 
the  World  he  lived  In."  Allen's  "Jonathan  Edwards"  (Ameri 
can  Religious  Leaders).  Mrs.  Earle's  "  The  Sabbath  in  Puritan 
New  England  "  ;  "  Home  Life  in  Colonial  Days  "  ;  "  Child  Life 
in  Colonial  Days";  "Life  of  Margaret  Winthrop."  Robert 
C.  Winthrop's  "  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Winthrop."  Fisher's 
"Men,  Women,  and  Manners  in  Colonial  Times."  Everett's 
"Orations  and  Speeches,"  Vols.  I,  II,  III.  Holmes's  "Pages 
from  an  Old  Volume  of  Life"  (Jonathan  Edwards).  Leslie 
Stephen's  "Hours  in  a  Library,"  2d series  (Edwards).  Richard 
son's  "American  Literature,"  Vol.  I,  pp.  10-35. 

Contemporary  Writings.  —  Hart's  "American  History  told 
by  Contemporaries,"  Vols.  I,  II.  Arber's  "The  Story  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  as  told  by  themselves,  their  Friends  and  their 


58  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP,  i] 

Enemies."  Stedman  and  Hutchinson's  "Library  of  American 
Literature."  Trent  and  Wells's  "  Colonial  Prose  and  Poetry." 
Old  South  Leaflets,  21,  22,  48,  49,  50,  51,  53,  54,  55,  66,  67, 
77,  87.  Captain  John  Smith's  "  Settlement  of  Virginia,"  and 
Governor  Bradford's  "History  of  Plymouth  Plantation"  (May- 
nard's  Historical  Classic  Readings).  "  Some  Old  Puritan  Love 
Letters  "  (John  and  Margaret  Winthrop). 

Illustrative  Literature.  —  Longfellow's  "  Courtship  of  Miles 
Standish"  ;  "The  Phantom  Ship";  "New  England  Trage 
dies."  Whittier's  "John  Underhill  "  ;  "  Prophecy  of  Samuel 
Sewall"  ;  "Cassandra  Southwick";  "The  Witch's  Daugh 
ter";  "The  Double-headed  Snake  of  Newbury."  Holmes's 
"The  Pilgrim's  Vision";  "On  Lending  a  Punch-bowl"; 
"  Song  for  the  Centennial  Celebration  of  Harvard  College." 
Hawthorne's  "  Grandfather's  Chair"  ;  "  The  Scarlet  Letter"  ; 
•'The  Maypole  of  Merry  Mount";  "  Endicott  and  the  Red 
Cross."  Lowell's  "New  England  Two  Centuries  Ago." 
Emerson's  "  Historical  Discourse,"  at  Concord.  Mrs.  Stowe's 
"Mayflower."  Mrs.  Austin's  "Standish  of  Standish"; 
"Betty  Alden."  O'Reilly's  "The  Pilgrim  Fathers."  Lucy 
Larcom's  "Lady  Arabella";  "Mistress  Hale  of  Beverly." 
Cooke's  "  My  Lady  Pocahontas."  Stimson's  "KingNoanett." 
Miss  Sedgwick's  "Hope  Leslie."  Mrs.  Child's  "  Hobomok." 
Margaret  J.  Preston's  "  Colonial  Ballads."  Bynner's  "  Agnes 
Surriage  "  ;  "  The  Begum's  Daughter"  ;  "  Penelope's  Suitors." 
Irving's  "  Knickerbocker's  History  of  New  York."  Mary 
Johnston's  "  To  Have  and  to  Hold."  Mrs.  Goodwin's  "  White 
Aprons  "  ;  "  The  Head  of  a  Hundred  "  ;  "  The  Colonial  Cava 
lier."  Cogswell's  "  Regicides. " 


CHAPTER   II 


PERIOD   OF   THE   REVOLUTION 

THE   opening  years   of    the   Revolutionary  period 
\vere  years  of  intellectual  ferment  and  pnlitip.a.1 


tion.  Men  were  beginning  to  think  for  themselves 
and  along  new  lines  ;  they  were  breaking  away  from 
the  old  theological  domination  ;  politics  and  religion 
were  being  dissociated,  theocracy  was  giving  way  to 
democracy.  Material  prosperity  rendered  men  more 
ambitious  for  position  and  power  in  this  world,  and 
less  solicitous  about  their  place  in  the  next  Era  of 
world;  everywhere,  especially  in  the  mid-  New  ideas 
die  and  southern  colonies,  men  of  wealth  and  educa 
tion  were  increasing  in  number,  and  were  living  a  life 
as  liberal  as  that  of  the  manorial  halls  of  England. 
New  ideals  of  society  and  government  were  stirring 
men's  minds  ;  the  idea  of  nationality  was  spreading 
among  the  reading  and  thinking  colonists  ;  the  "  em 
pires  in  their  brains"  began  to  take  shape,  vaguely 
but  alluringly.  Ednmnd  Burke,  in  his  great  speech 
on  "  Conciliation,"  called  the  attention  of  the  English 
people  to  the  significant  fact  that  the  colonists  were 
sharpening  tlu-ir  faculties  by  legal  study:  "In  no 

59 


60  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

country,  perhaps,  in  the  world,  is  the  law  so  general  a 
study." 

The  Revolution  was  the  result  not  so  much  of  op 
pression  as  of  a  new  conception  of  liberty.  The 
Stamp  Act  would  have  caused  no  real  distress,  but  it 
was  odious  mainly  as  an  obstacle  to  the  progress  of 
ideas.  -A  new  notion  of  independence  was  formed, 
first  for  the  individual,  then  for  the  colony,  and  then 
for  the  country.  Loyalty  to  England  suddenly  changed 
to  love  for  America.  \  American  patriotism 

Birth  of 

American-  was  born,  and  nursed  to  an  extraordinary 
growth.  But  this  spring-flood  of  radical 
ism  was  not  understood  in  the  old  country,  neither 
were  all  of  the  colonists  swept  into  its  current. 
America  was  not  only  in  conflict  with  England,  but 
also  with  herself.  It  has  been  a  common  mistake 
to  assume  that  the  Tories  were  merely  an  obstinate 
minority,  bound  to  the  king  by  selfish  interests.  It 
is  probable  that  they  were  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as 
numerous  as  the  Patriots,  and  it  is  certain  that  their 
party  contained  "a  very  considerable  portion  of  the 
most  refined,  thoughtful,  and  conscientious  people  in 
the  colonies." J  This  fact  naturally  intensified  the 
excitement  and  bitterness  of  the  conflict.  The  Loy 
alists  were  not  without  patriotism,^  but  they  argued 
for  a  policy  of  conciliation  and  peace,!  and  against  the 

1  Tyler's  "  Literary  History  of  the  American  Revolution,"  Vol. 
I.  p.  303.  See  also  Lecky's  "  England  in  the  Eighteenth  Century," 
Vol.  Ill,  p.  479. 


n]  PERIOD   OF   THE   REVOLUTION  61 

dangerous  and  destructive  policy  of  war  and  separa 
tion^ 

Thus  for  many  years  before  a  gun  was  fired,  the 
Revolutionary  struggle  was  a  war  of  political  debate, 
and  out  of  the  discipline  of  this  conflict  of  hot  words 
arose  those  splendidly  equipped  intellects  that  aston 
ished  all  Europe  with  novel  and  profound  theories  for 
the  reconstruction  of  human  society  and  government./ 
"  Without  boasting,"  says  Daniel  Webster,  "  we  may 
say  that  in  no  age  or  country  has  the  public  cause 
been  maintained  with  more  force  of  argument,  more 
power  of  illustration,  or  more  of  that  persuasion 
which  excited  feeling  and  elevated  principle  can  alone 
bestow,  than  the  Revolutionary  state  papers  exhibit." 

The  aroused  intellectual  forces  of  this  exciting 
period  found,  as  we  should  expect,  abundant  expres 
sion  in  literature.  But  this  literature  was  limited  in 
subject  to  the  one  absorbing  theme,  independence,  and 
in  variety  to  the  simplest  and  most  effective  popular 
forms,  the  political  essay,  oratory,  and  patriotic  poetry. 
In  style  it  was  imitative  of  familiar  English  models 
of  the  Augustan  Age.  Oratory  was  affected  by  the 
speeches  of  Burke,  Fox,  and  Sheridan.  Prose  gener 
ally  followed  the  formal,  rhetorical,  and  "  classical " 

style  of  Johnson,  rather  than  the  simpler, 
J  '    Literature 

more  flexible,  and  more  graceful  style  of  copies  Eng- 
Addison.     Poetry   throughout  the   period 
remained  helplessly  under  the  yoke  of  Pope's  rhymed 
couplet.     Strictly  speaking,  America  produced  nothing 


62  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

distinctly  American  in  literature  until  after  the  Eevo- 
lution.  Literary  servitude  to  England  was  acknowl 
edged  by  the  very  instruments  with  which  the  colonists 
were  winning  their  political  freedom. 

The  political  essays  were  given  to  the  public  through 
the  newspapers,  or  as  separate  tracts  or  pamphlets, 
which  were  sold  upon  the  street.  Pamphleteering 
was  the  journalism  of  the  eighteenth  century,  both  in 
England  and  in  America.  There  were  few  newspa- 
Poiiticai  Pers  —  only  forty-three  in  all  the  colonies 
Essays  a^  ^e  en(j  of  fae  Revolution  —  and  these 

were  crude,  inadequate  sheets,  edited  by  the  printer 
who  selected  his  matter  mainly  from  the  voluntary 
effusions  of  "Vindex,"  "Publius,"  "Novanglus," 
"  Candidus,"  and  other  pseudonymous  contributors. 
A  vast  amount  of  this  controversial  prose  was  pub 
lished,  much  of  it  able  and  effective,  but  the  occasion 
alone  gave  it  vitality,  and  its  present  interest  is  chiefly 
historical. 

The  most  natural  expression  of  freedom  is  the  elo 
quence  of  the  forum.  Democracy  cannot  exist  with 
out  debate  and  speech-making.  But  the  art  of  the 
orator,  like  that  of  the  actor,  is  perishable,  and  his 
fame  rests  largely  upon  tradition.  Probably  no  great 
Political  speech  was  ever  repeated  with  its  original 
Oratory  force,  and  only  an  occasional  masterpiece 

seems  to  justify  its  traditional  reputation  when  read 
calmly  and  critically  in  the  study.  The  occasion  and 
the  man  add  qualities  to  the  words  that  cannot  be. 


ii]  PERIOD   OF   THE   REVOLUTION  63 

preserved  by  printing.  Moreover,  few  great  speeches, 
like  the  orations  of  Webster  and  Burke,  possess  in 
combination  with  wise  and  weighty  thought  the 
strong  qualities  of  style  necessary  to  preserve  them 
permanently  as  literature.  The  Revolutionary  period 
was  preeminently  an  oratorical  period,  but  we  know 
little  of  its  oratory  except  through  tradition  and  by 
the  effects  that  it  produced.  Yet  the  fragments  of 
the  great  speeches  that  have  survived  are  sufficient  to 
explain  the  whirlwind  of  passionate  patriotism  by 
which  men  were  swept  into  desperate  rebellion. 

The  chief   instigators  to  revolt  were  James  Otis, 
Samuel  Adams,  John  Hancock,  Joseph  Warren,  and 

Josiah    Quincy,    in    Massachusetts,     and 

Orators 

Richard  Henry  Lee  and  Patrick  Henry  of  the 
in  Virginia.  The  argument  of  Otis,  in  Revolution 
1760,  against  the  odious  "Writs  of  Assistance"  is 
believed  to  have  been  one  of  the  greatest  speeches  of 
modern  times.  Notes  of  the  speech  were  made  by 
John  Adams,  who  wrote  in  his  diary  with  fervid  ad 
miration  :  "  Otis  was  a  flame  of  fire.  With  a  prompt 
itude  of  classical  allusions,  a  depth  of  research,  a 
rapid  summary  of  historical  events  and  dates,  a  pro 
fusion  of  legal  authorities,  a  prophetic  glance  of  his 
eye  into  futurity,  and  a  torrent  of  impetuous  elo 
quence,  he  hurried  away  everything  before  him. 
American  independence  was  then  and  there  born." 
It  was  the  wealthy  and  aristocratic  Hancock  who 
said,  when  discussing  means  for  dislodging  the  British 


64  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

troops,  "  Burn  Boston,  and  make  John  Hancock  a  beg 
gar,  if  the  public  good  requires  it."  And  it  was  he 
James  otis,  wno  appended  that  first  bold  signature 

1725-1783       to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  writ- 
John  Hancock, 

1737-1793       ten  "large  enough  for  George  the  Third 

josiah  Quincy,  to  read  without  spectacles."     It  was  the 

1744-1775 

Joseph  warren,  young   and   brilliant   Quincy  who   said: 

1741-1775  ee  j£  £O  appear  for  my  country  is  treason, 

and  to  arm  for  her  defense  is  rebellion, —  like  my 
fathers,  I  will  glory  in  the  name  of  rebel  and  traitor, 
as  they  did  in  that  of  Puritan  and  enthusiast."  It 
was  Warren,  the  first  eminent  martyr  to  the  noble 
enthusiasm,  who  exclaimed,  "These  fellows  say  we 
won't  fight ;  by  Heavens !  I  hope  I  shall  die  up  to  my 
knees  in  blood." 

The  "chief  incendiary"  was  Samuel  Adams,  the 
father  of  the  town  meeting,  the  ideal  representative 
and  leader  of  American  democracy.  By  his  volumi 
nous  writings  for  the  public  press,  by  his  innumerable 
state  papers,  remarkable  for  their  clearness  and  force, 
/  Samuel  Adams,  by  his  persuasive  oratory,  and  by  his  de- 
1722-1803  vjce  of  »  Committees  of  Correspondence,'' 
he  became  the  arch  instigator  and  organizer  of  the 
Revolution.  "  A  man  who  hungered  and  thirsted  for 
the  independence  of  his  country,"  says  Webster.  "  A 
man  whom  Plutarch,  if  he  had  only  lived  late  enough, 
would  have  delighted  to  include  in  his  gallery  of  wor 
thies,"  says  Fiske.  He  was  powerful  as  a  speaker, 
but  more  powerful  as  a  writer  and  as  a  manager  of 


n]  PERIOD   OF  THE    REVOLUTION  65 

men.  "  Every  dip  of  his  pen,"  said  a  political  adver 
sary,  "  stings  like  a  horned  snake."  "  Such  a  master 
of  the  methods  by  which  a  town  meeting  may  be 
swayed,"  declares  his  biographer,  "the  world  has 
never  seen." 

Of  the  southern  patriots,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  the 
"  American  Cicero,"  left  little  by  which  we  can  meas 
ure  his  impressive  oratory.  With  Patrick  Henry,  the 
firebrand  of  Virginia,  we  are  more  fortunate,  for 
some  of  his  speeches,  written  down  from  memory  by 
those  who  heard  them,  were  preserved  by  Wirt,  his 
earliest  biographer,  probably  with  a  fair  degree  of 
accuracy.  The  clear  ring  of  his  impetuous  and  auda 
cious  eloquence,  familiar  as  it  has  become  in  hack 
neyed  school  selections,  Still  Stirs  the  Patrick  Henry, 
heart  of  every  young  American.  His  "^735=1799 
opening  speech  in  the  first  Continental  Congress,  in 
which  occurred  the  flaming  declaration,  "  I  am  not  a 
Virginian,  but  an  American,"  gave  him  the  reputation 
of  being  "the  foremost  orator  on  the  continent." 
Said  Jefferson,  "He  appeared  to  me  to  speak  as 
Homer  wrote."  The  address  before  the  Virginia  Con 
vention  in  1775  is  unquestionably  more  familiar  to 
Americans  than  any  other  piece  of  prose  in  the  lan 
guage  outside  the  Bible.  It  is  natural  eloquence. 
Throughout,  the  sharp,  rushing,  tumultuous  sentences 
fall  upon  the  ear  like  the  clashing  of  steel  and  the 
hissing  of  hot  bullets  in  the  air,  and  the  closing  cli 
max  is  a  whirlwind  of  passionate  and  irresistible  ap- 


66  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

peal :  "  Is  life  so  dear,  or  peace  so  sweet,  as  to  be 
purchased  at  the  price  of  chains  and  slavery  ?  For 
bid  it,  Almighty  God !  I  know  not  what  course 
others  may  take,  but  as  for  me,  give  me  liberty  or 
give  me  death." 

The  most  effective  pamphleteer  of  the  period  was 
Thomas  Paine,  an  erratic,  impecunious  Englishman, 
who   came   to  Philadelphia   in   1774,   bearing  a  let 
ter   from   Franklin,  commending  him   as 
Thomas 

Paine,  "an  ingenious,  worthy  young  man."     He 

plunged,  heart  and  soul,  into  the  Patriot 
cause,  and  rendered  inestimable  service  with  his  sim 
ple,  direct,  and  forcible  writing,  clearing  away  with 
each  stroke  the  obstacles  to  liberty.  The  powerful 
pamphlet,  "  Common  Sense,"  appeared  in  1776,  and 
within  three  months  one  hundred  and  twenty  thou 
sand  copies  were  sold;  half  a  million  copies,  it  is 
estimated,  were  circulated  in  this  country  and  abroad. 
This  was  followed  by  the  "  Crisis,"  beginning  with 
the  electrical  words,  "  These  are  the  times  that  try 
men's  souls,"  which  did  much  to  sustain  the  sinking 
hearts  during  the  most  critical  part  of  the  war.  It 
was  read  to  the  army  at  Valley  Forge  by  order  of 
Washington.  As  a  writer,  Paine  was  clear  and 
breezy,  making  an  effective  use  of  epigram  and  apt 
illustration.  Attracted  to  France  by  the  struggle  for 
liberty  there  in  progress,  he  wrote  the  "  Rights  of 
Man,"  in  answer  to  Burke's  "Reflections  upon  the 
French  Revolution."  The  fame  of  his  political  writ- 


n]  PERIOD   OF   THE    REVOLUTION  67 

ings  has  been  overshadowed  by  that  of  his  crude, 
deistical  argument  against  Christianity,  "  The  Age  of 
Keason,"  a  worthless  book,  except  as  illustrating  the 
tendencies  of  eighteenth-century  thought,  to  which, 
however,  an  exaggerated  importance  was  long  attrib 
uted.  The  skeptical  philosophy  of  Hume  and  Vol 
taire  formed  a  natural  alliance  with  the  impetuous 
spirit  of  democracy  in  its  first  unrestrained  pursuit  of 
new  ideals  of  liberty. 


BENJAMIN   FRANKLIN 

1706-1790 

<>C/t-c-^v    l'~\-''f  \ 
The  most  widely  representative  character   of  the. 

Revolutionary  period  is  Benjamin  Franklin,  whose 
life  work  may  be  regarded  as  an  epitome  of  Ameri 
canism  throughout  its  progress  from  colonialism  to 
nationality.  Among  the  master  builders  of  the  nation, 
next  to  the  "father  of  his  country,"  stands  Franklin. 
What  Washington  did  in  the  field,  Franklin  did  in 
council  halls  and  at  the  courts  of  kings,  and  without <-^ 
the  services  of  either  it  is  probable  that  the  strug 
gle  for  independence  could  not  have  been  . 

Washington 

carried  to  success.      While  alike  in  their   and 
patriotic  purposes,  these  two  grand  Ameri 
cans  differed  widely  in  their  ideals  of  life.      Wash 
ington  stood  for  political  and   social   principles  that 
savored    of    the    Old   World    aristocracy ;    Franklin 
stood   for   the   new-born   American   democracy  —  the 


68 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE 


[CHAP. 


toiling,  thrifty,  freedom-loving,  indigenous  people  — 
and  to  this  people  still  the  august  figure  of  the  one,  in 
powdered  wig  and  ruffles,  is  an  object  of  reverence, 
while  the  homely,  companionable  figure  of  the  other, 
with  frizzled  fur  cap  and  spectacles,  is  an  object  of  af- 

f  e  c  t  i  o  n .  The 
career  of  Frank 
lin,  moreover,  was 
more  varied  and 
extended  than 
that  of  Washing 
ton.  He  was  the 
connecting  link 
between  two  eras ; 
his  childhood  was 
s'pent  in  New 
England  under 
the  stern  influ 
ences  of  Cotton 
Mather's  reign, 
and  he  lived  to 
see  the  new  re 
public  established  and  to  congratulate  Washington 
upon  assuming  the  office  of  President. 

The  story  of  Franklin's  illustrious  career  as  printer, 
journalist,  author,  inventor,  philosopher,  statesman, 
and  diplomatist,  is  told  in  the  inimitable  "Auto 
biography,"  which  every  American  reads  who  is  not 
cheated  of  his  just  inheritance  in  youth.  He  was 


Benjamin  Franklin 


n]  PERIOD   OF  THE   REVOLUTION  69 

born  in  Boston  in  1706,  the  son  of  a  soap-boiler  and 
tallow-chandler.     His  education  was  obtained  mainly 
from  such  books  as  came  to  him  by  chance.     "  From 
a  child,"  he  says,  "  I  was  fond  of  reading,  and  all  the 
little  money  that  came  into  my  hands  was  ever  laid 
out  in  books."      And   he  would   often   sit  up   "the 
greatest  part  of  the  night "  to  read  a  bor 
rowed   book.      Among   his  father's  books  Franklin's 
of  polemical  divinity  he  found  Plutarch's  Llfe 
"Lives,"  which  he  "read  abundantly,"  he  says,  and 
Cotton  Mather's  "Essays  to  do  Good,"  which  "per 
haps  gave  me  a  turn  of  thinking  that  had  an  influence 
on  some  of  the  principal  future  events  of  my  life." 

There  was  then  not  a  public  library  in  the  colonies. 
Of  five  hundred  and  fifty  books  published  during  the 
first  twelve  years  of  Franklin's  life,  all  but  eighty-four 
were  on  religious  topics,  and  of  the  eighty-four,  forty- 
nine  were  almanacs.  A  copy  of  Shakspere  had  not 
been  seen  in  Boston.  But  Franklin  fell  upon  "an-odd 
volume"  of  Addison's  "  Spectator,"  and  from  a  careful 
study  of  this  he  obtained  a  rhetorical  training  that 
helped  to  make  him  the  best  writer  of  the  age  in 
America. 

Franklin  was  apprenticed  to  his  brother  as  a  printer, 
but,  when  seventeen  years  old,  ran  away  to  Philadel 
phia.  He  reached  the  city,  dirty  and  hungry,  with 
only  a  "  Dutch  dollar  and  about  a  shilling  in  copper " 
with  which  to  begin  business.  With  pockets  "  stuffed 
out  with  shirts  and  stockings,"  and  with  "  three  great 


TO  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

puffy  rolls "  of  bread,  "  a  roll  under  each  arm,  and 
eating  the  other,"  he  walked  up  Market  Street  for  the 
first  time,  and  passed  the  house  of  his  future  wife, 
who,  seeing  him,  "thought  I  made,"  he  says,  "as  I 
certainly  did,  a  most  awkward,  ridiculous  appearance." 
How  he  rose  from  "  such  unlikely  beginnings  "  to  be 
the  first  citizen  of  Philadelphia  and  the  most  con 
spicuous  personage  in  all  the  colonies,  must  be  learned 
directly  from  the  "  Autobiography,"  for  any  condensa 
tion  of  that  charming  narrative  would  seriously  injure 
its  delicious  flavor  for  the  reader.  A  brief  enumera 
tion  of  his  achievements  is  enough  to  show  the  many- 
sidedness  of  his  character  and  the  broad  field  of  his 
usefulness. 

He  established  a  printing  business  from  which  he 
made  a  fortune,  and  published  the  first  American 
magazine,  The  General  Magazine  and  Historical  Chron 
icle;  organized  the  city  fire  and  street-cleaning  depart 
ments,  and  invented  the  stove  that  still  bears  his 

name  ;  founded  the  Public  Library  of  Phil- 
Practical 
Achieve-          adelphia,    "the  mother  of   all  the   North 

American  subscription  libraries,"  the  Uni 
versity  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  American  Philosophi 
cal  Society ;  and  when  serving  as  postmaster  general, 
he  established  the  national  post-office  system.  In 
1754  he  proposed  the  "Albany  plan"  for  the  union 
of  the  colonies,  thus  anticipating  by  thirty-three  years 
the  work  of  the  Constitutional  Convention.  His  con 
tributions  to  science  gave  him  a  world-wide  fame. 


n]  PERIOD   OF   THE   REVOLUTION  71 

By  the  famous  kite  experiment  he  established  the 
identity  of  lightning  and  electricity,  and,  with  charac 
teristic  turn  for  the  practical,  devised  the  lightning 
rod.  The  reports  of  his  investigations  were  published 
abroad,  and  the  Royal  Society  of  England  voted  him 
a  medal,  the  king  of  France  ordered  his  experiments 
repeated  in  the  royal  presence,  and  the  German  phi 
losopher,  Kant,  hailed  him  as  "the  Prometheus  of 
modern  days." 

Although,  next  to  Washington,  the  chief  actor  in 
the  Revolution,  it  is  a  singular  fact  that  Franklin  was 
absent  from  America  during  nearly  the  whole  period. 
In  1757  he  was  sent  to  England  in  behalf  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  again  in  1764  to  oppose  the  Stamp  Act. 
For  ten  years  he  labored  faithfully  to  avert  Diplomatic 
the  calamity  of  war,  and  returned  just  after  Career 
the  battle  of  Lexington,  in  time  to  attend  the  Conti 
nental  Congress  and  sign  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence.  Once  more  he  was  sent  abroad  —  now  seventy 
years  old  —  to  obtain  aid  from  France,  and  he  performed 
the  task  with  a  success  that  saved  the  American  cause. 
In  France  he  was  received  with  extravagant  delight. 
People  gathered  in  the  streets  to  see  the  American 
Solon  pass ;  statesmen,  philosophers,  and  men  of 
fashion  vied  with  each  other  in  entertaining  him  ;  his 
face  appeared  in  every  print  shop  and  on  bracelets, 
linger  rings,  and  snuffboxes  ;  poets  praised  him  with 
sonnets,  and  court  ladies  placed  Franklin  stoves  in 
their  chambers  and  Franklin  portraits  on  their  man- 


72  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

tels.  For  a  medal  struck  in  his  honor  the  great  Tur- 
got  composed  the  imperishable  epigram  :  — 

Eripuit  coelo  fulmen,  sceptrumque  tyrannis. 

The  jealous  John  Adams  wrote  that  his  fame  seemed 
"more  universal  than  that  of  Leibnitz  or  Newton, 
Frederic  or  Voltaire."  When  he  had  conducted  the 
peace  negotiations  with  England  to  a  happy  end, 
Jefferson  was  sent  to  give  him  the  long-desired  relief 
from  official  duties.  On  being  asked  if  he  had  re 
placed  Dr.  Franklin,  the  great  Virginian  replied,  "I 
succeed  ;  no  one  can  ever  replace  him." 

In  1785  Franklin  returned  to  his  "dear  Philadel 
phia,"  and  was  compelled  by  his  admiring  countrymen 
to  serve  them  still  further  as  president  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  as  one  of  the  framers  of  the  new  Constitu 
tion.  With  the  signing  of  this  document  his  public 
work  was  done.  He  was  now  very  old,  and  the  pains 
of  age  and  disease  were  heavy  upon  him.  "  I  seem," 
he  said,  "  to  have  intruded  myself  into  the 
company  of  posterity,  when  I  ought  to 
have  been  abed  and  asleep."  But  his  natu 
ral  cheerfulness  never  failed  him.  To  a  friend  he 
wrote :  "  When  I  consider  how  many  more  terrible 
maladies  the  human  body  is  liable  to,  I  think  myself 
well  off  that  I  have  only  three  incurable  ones :  the 
gout,  the  stone,  and  old  age ;  and,  these  notwithstand 
ing,  I  enjoy  many  comfortable  intervals,  in  which  I 
forget  all  my  ills,  and  amuse  myself  in  reading  or 


n]  PERIOD   OF   THE    REVOLUTION  73 

writing,  or  in  conversation  with  friends,  joking, 
laughing,  and  telling  merry  stories,  as  when  you  first 
knew  me,  a  young  man  about  fifty."  He  died  April 
17,  1790,  and  twenty  thousand  people  witnessed  his 
burial. 

Properly  speaking,  Franklin  was  not  a  literary 
man ;  he  cultivated  the  art  of  expression,  not  for  its 
own  sake,  but  for  its  immediate  usefulness  in  the 
common  affairs  of  life.  He  wrote  extensively,  upon 
science,  politics,  economics,  and  morals,  and  with  such 
directness  of  thought  and  clearness  of  expression  that 
the  practical  end  in  view  was  generally  reached. 
Even  his  most  playful  essays  usually  conceal,  like  a 
well-baited  hook,  some  pointed  bit  of  wisdom  with 
which  to  catch  the  reader's  mind.  Of  his  Literary 
varied  productions  those  that  belong  dis-  works 
tinctively  to  literature  are  the  "  Busybody "  papers, 
humorously  didactic  essays  written  in  his  early  years 
in  the  manner  of  Addisoii;  the  light  and  graceful 
"  Bagatelles,"  written  in  old  age,  among  which  are 
some  of  his  best  known  pieces  of  mingled  wit  and 
wisdom,  such  as  "The  Whistle"  and  "Dialogue  be 
tween  Franklin  and  the  Gout " ;  the  delightful  Famil 
iar  Letters ;  and  finally,  the  two  works  upon  which 
his  immortality  as  a  writer  rests,  "Poor  Richard's 
Almanac  "  and  the  "  Autobiography." 

The  "  Almanac  "  had  long  been  popular  in  the  colo 
nies  when  Poor  Richard  appeared  in  1733.  It  was  the 
people's  "  general  intelligencer,"  a  familiar  companion 


74  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP,  n 

iii  every  household.  It  penetrated  the  remotest  wil 
derness,  carrying  to  the  isolated  pioneer  scraps  of 
poetry  and  philosophy  from  the  great  writers  of  all 
times,  mixed  with  absurd  weather  predictions  and 
other  laughter-provoking  whimseys.  Perceiving  the 
possibilities  of  this  plebeian  form  of  literature  as  a 
means  of  diffusing  wise  instruction,  Franklin  made 
himself  through  it  a  kind  of  universal  schoolmaster. 
Like  the  great  characters  of  fiction,  Eichard  Saunders 
became  a  living  personage  among  men,  and  his  pro 
verbial  wisdom  has  become  embedded  in  the  moral 
nature  of  the  American  people.  His  teach- 

' '  Poor 

Richard's  ing  all  tends  to  practical  thrift,  showing 
how  to  be  "healthy,  wealthy,  and  wise." 
"  One  to-day  is  worth  two  to-morrows,"  "  A  small  leak 
will  sink  a  great  ship,"  "  Plow  deep  while  sluggards 
sleep,"  "  An  empty  sack  cannot  stand  upright,"  "  God 
helps  them  that  help  themselves,"  "  Handle  your  tools 
without  mittens,"  "  Three  removes  are  as  bad  as  a 
fire."  Such  are  the  homely  saws  of  Poor  Richard, 
some  original  and  more  of  them  borrowed,  but  all 
made  pithy  and  pointed  by  Franklin's  literary  skill 
and  keen  insight  into  human  nature.  For  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ten  thousand  copies  a  year  were 
sold.  In  the  last  issue  the  best  of  the  proverbs  were 
gathered  into  a  connected  discourse  called  "Father 
Abraham's  Speech,"  which,  says  McMaster,  "is  the 
most  famous  piece  of  literature  the  colonies  produced." 
This  may  be  read  in  French,  German,  Spanish,  Italian. 


Poor  Richard,  17  3  3 . 


A  N 


Foi  the  Year  of  Chrift 

1  73  3' 

Being  the  Firfl  after  1  EAP  YEAR: 

dnd  mott$  ftntt  the  Creation  Years 

By  the  Account  of  rhc  E  firm  Grttkt  7241 

By  the  Latin  Church,  when  O  cm    Y  <Sj>j2 

By  the  Computation  of  W  Hf  5742 

By  the  Roman  Chronology  5682 

By  the  Jewip  Kabbie*  f     5494 

Wherein  is  contained 
The  Lunations,  Eclipfcs,  Judgment  of 
the  Weather,  Spring  Tides.  Planet*  Morions  & 
murua)  Afpeds,  Sun  and  Moon's  Rifing  and  Scr- 
ting,  Length  of  Days,  Time  of  High  Wat^r, 
Fairs,  Gmrrs,  aiM  obfervabl*  Day* 

Fitted  to  the  Lawudeoi  Forty  Degrees, 

and  a  Meridian  of  FJV<"  Hoim  Weft  from  /  onrfca, 
but  may  without  lenfiHlc  Error  ferve  all  ihe  od- 
jacent  Places,  even  from  Newfourdbaul  ro  Scuth- 
Carolma. 


By  RICH4RD  S4UNDERS,  Philora» 


PHILADRLPHIA: 
Punted  and  fold  by  B  F&JNKL/tf.  at  the  New 
Printing  Office  near  the  Market 

~  The  Third  Jmprcflion.  "~ 

FACSIMILE  OF  THE  TITLE  PAGE  OF  POOR  RICHARD 
75 


76  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Portuguese,  Dutch,  Russian,  Gaelic  and  modern  Greek. 
In  France  it  has  appeared  in  more  than  thirty  editions 
as  "  La  Science  du  Bonhomme  Richard,"  and  as  many 
times  in  England  as  "  The  Way  to  Wealth." 

This  remarkable  popularity  was  the  result  of  humor, 
sturdy  common  sense,  and  an  irresistible  obviousness 
that  characterizes  all  of  Franklin's  writing.  There 
was  nothing  in  Poor  Richard's  teaching  to  increase 
the  spiritual  and  ideal  elements  of  life,  but  much  to 
Philosophy  make  men  prudent,  industrious,  and  com- 
and  Humor  fortable.  Franklin's  philosophy  is  utilita 
rian  and  material ;  lacking  in  his  own  nature  some  of 
the  finer  qualities  of  culture,  he  was  inclined  to  exalt 
money-getting  to  a  place  among  the  higher  virtues. 
But  this  is  a  limitation  rather  than  a  fault.  He  is, 
moreover,  always  the  laughing  philosopher.  Like 
Lincoln,  whom  he  resembles  in  many  respects,  he 
made  wit  and  humor  a  part  of  his  working  strength. 
"Humor,"  says  Parton,  "was  his  forte,  his  element, 
his  armor,  his  weapon,  his  solace.  When  most  himself, 
he  was  most  abounding  in  humor,  and  the  older  he 
grew,  the  more  frolicsome  his  pen  became."  Natural 
humor  he  refined  into  literary  art.  In  the  varied  and 
effective  uses  of  satire  he  was  the  pupil,  and  perhaps 
the  equal,  of  Swift  and  Addison. 

The  "  Autobiography "  is  an  American  classic,  and 
one  of  the  few  great  books  of  its  kind  in  the  world. 
It  has  been  translated  into  nearly  every  language  of 
civilization,  and  is  still  read  Avith  hardly  any  abate- 


n]  PERIOD   OF   THE   REVOLUTION  77 

ment  of  interest  by  people  in  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  life.  It  was  begun  in  1771,  resumed  in  1788,  and 
left  incomplete.  Through  a  strange  fortune  it  was 
first  published  in  French,  and  a  correct  The  "Auto- 
edition  did  not  exist  in  English  until  1868,  biography" 
when  the  original  manuscript  was  obtained  in  France 
by  John  Bigelow,  and  under  his  editorial  care  pub 
lished  in  this  country.  Its  "perennial  charm,"  says 
Curtis,  "  is  like  that  of  Robinson  Crusoe "  ;  and  this 
charm  is  due  largely  to  a  style  that,  for  crystal  clear 
ness  and  effective  simplicity,  is  the  equal  of  that  of 
J3e_Foa.  With  plain,  pure,  idiomatic,  Saxon  direct 
ness,  the  language  gives  a  perfect  transcript  of  the 
author's  mind.  The  reader  never  mistakes  Franklin's 
meaning,  and  hardly  notices  that  there  is  no  rhetoric, 
no  figures,  no  ornament  except  such  as  is  native  to 
the  thought.  Franklin  followed,  without  knowing  it, 
Chaucer's  rule  of  writing,  "  the  wordes  mote  be  cosyn 
to  the  dede."  The  strongest  impression  of  his  style 
is  that  of  the  absence  of  all  style.  This  is  the  result 
of  character  rather  than  of  design.  Franklin's  prose 
is  always  a  literal  translation  of  himself,  and  in  this 
fact  lies  the  chief  explanation  of  the  abiding  charm 
of  the  "Autobiography."  It  presents  a  broad,  pic 
turesque,  fascinating  personality ;  a  self-revelation 
utterly  without  affectation  and  without  reserve.  "  If 
I  were  required  to  say  for  which  of  Franklin's  achieve 
ments  he  deserved  most  and  best  of  mankind,"  wrote 
Horace  Greeley,  "  I  should  award  the  palm  to  his 


78  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

'  Autobiography,'  —  so  frank,  so  sunny,  so  irradiated 
by  a  brave,  blithe,  hearty  humanity." 

Of  Franklin's  total  work. as  a  writer  during  the 
Revolution,  Professor  Tyler  expresses  this  final  judg 
ment  :  "  Undoubtedly  his  vast  experience  in  affairs  and 

the  sobriety  produced  by  mere  official  re- 
Estimate  of  sponsibility  had  the  effect  of  clarifying  and 

solidifying  his  thought,  and  of  giving  to 
the  highest  products  of  his  genius  a  sanity  and  a  sure- 
ness  of  movement  which,  had  he  been  a  man  of  letters 
only,  they  could  hardly  have  had  in  so  high  a  degree. 
It  is  only  by  a  continuous  reading  of  the  entire  body 
of  Franklin's  Revolutionary  writings,  from  grave  to 
gay,  from  lively  to  severe,  that  any  one  can  know  how 
brilliant  was  his  wisdom,  or  how  wise  was  his  bril 
liance,  or  how  humane  and  gentle  and  helpful  were 
both.  No  one  who,  by  such  a  reading,  procures  for 
himself  such  a  pleasure  and  such  a  benefit,  will  be 
likely  to  miss  the  point  of  Sydney  Smith's  playful 
menace  to  his  daughter,  '  I  will  disinherit  you  if  you 
do  not  admire  everything  written  by  Franklin.' " 

Class  Study.  —  The  Autobiography ;  Father  Abraham's 
Speech ;  The  Whistle  ;  Franklin  and  the  Gout. 

Class  Reading.  —  Selections  from  the  Familiar  Letters  ;  The 
Ephemera  ;  A  Petition  of  the  Left  Hand. 

Biography  and  Criticism. — Bigelow's  "Life  of  Benjamin 
Franklin,  written  by  Himself."  Parton's  "Life  and  Times  of 
Benjamin  Franklin."  Morse's  "Benjamin  Franklin"  (Ameri 
can  Statesmen  Series).  McMaster's  "  Benjamin  Franklin  as  a 
Man  of  Letters."  Kale's  "Franklin  in  France."  Ford's  "The 


ii  1  PERIOD   OF   THE   REVOLUTION  79 

Many-sided  Franklin."  Robins's  "  Life  of  Benjamin  Frank 
lin."  More's  "Franklin"  (Riverside  Biographical  Series). 
Sainte-Beuve's  "English  Portraits."  Tyler's  "Literary  His 
tory  of  the  American  Revolution,"  Vol.  II,  chap.  38. 
Carpenter's  "American  Prose."  Richardson's  "American 
Literature,"  Vol.  I,  chap.  5.  Barrett  Wendell's  "Literary 
History  of  America."  Sparks's  "  Men  who  Made  the  Nation." 


IX 

THE   REVOLUTIONARY   STATESMEN 

The  ^bold  and  impetuous  patriots,  Samuel  Adams, 
James  Otis,  Patrick  Henry,  and  their  fellows,  were 
political  destroyers,  rather  than  creators.  They 
achieved  liberty,  but  left  to  others  the  greater  task 
of  organizing  and  establishing  it;  they  cleared  the 
ground  for  the  national  structure,  and  the  work  was 
carried  forward  to  completion  by  Jefferson,  Hamilton, 
Washington,  John  Adams,  Franklin,  Madison,  and 
Jay,  the  architects  and  builders  of  the  The  Nation- 
nation,  the  first  American  statesmen.  In  bullders 
1783  the  war  was  ended  and  freedom  was  gained,  but 
not  union.  There  were  thirteen  little  republics, 
obstinate  and  jealous  in  the  exercise  of  their  new 
and  blood-bought  independence.  European  statesmen 
prophesied  that  they  would  destroy  each  other  like 
the  states  of  Greece,  that  freedom  would  resolve  itself 
into  anarchy.  The  results  of  Yorktown  were  yet  to 
be  secured.  The  period  from  1783  to  1789,  says 
Fiske,  "  was  the  most  critical  moment  in  all  the  his 
tory  of  the  American  people  " ;  it  was  "  preeminently 


80  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  LCHAP. 

the   turning   point   in   the   development    of   political 
society  in  the  western  hemisphere." 

But  there  were  men  with  splendidly  endowed  intel 
lects  to  meet  this  crisis,  and  the  successful  manner  in 
which  they  brought  into  being  a  new  nation,  founded 
upon  new  principles,  still  continues  to  excite  the 
admiration  of  the  world.  For  broad  intelligence, 
noble  sentiments,  and  lofty  purposes,  for  all  the  high 
est  qualities  of  true  statesmanship,  this 

A  Group  of 

True  states-  group  of  men  has  not  been  equaled  in  our 
history.  We  have  had  great  men,  states 
men,  orators,  politicians,  but  these  were  grand  men, 
the  republic's  noblemen.  The  written  expression  of 
the  thought  and  feeling  of  such  men,  although  in 
tended  only  for  political  and  temporary  ends,  would 
necessarily  contribute  something  of  permanent  value 
to  literary  history.  The  crowning  work  of  their 
united  efforts  is  the  Constitution,  which  Gladstone 
declared  to  be  "the  most  wonderful  work  ever  struck 
off  at  a  given  time  by  the  brain  and  purpose  of  man." 
Preeminent  among  these  statesmen,  for  large 
scholarship  and  fine  ciilture,  was  Thomas  Jefferson. 
He  was  educated  at  the  college  of  William  and  Mary, 
and  proved  his  devotion  to  learning  by  founding  the 
University  of  Virginia,  where  he  established  the  first 
chair  of  English  language.  He  was  an  indifferent 
speaker,  but  a  fluent  and  effective  writer;  and  his 
writings  show  that  he  possessed  the  literary  sense,  if 
not  the  literary  inspiration.  John  Adams  speaks  of 


n]  PERIOD   OF   THE    REVOLUTION  81 

his  reputation  as  a  writer  "  remarkable  for  the  peculiar 
felicity  of  expression.  "  His  "  Notes  on  Virginia  "  and 
"  Autobiography "  are  of  historical  value 

Thomas 

and  not  without  literary  interest.  His  Jefferson, 
enormous  influence  as  a  political  leader  I743  l8a6 
was  exercised  mainly  through  correspondence;  not 
less  than  twenty-five  thousand  of  his  letters  still 
exist,  written  with  scrupulous  care  and  taste,  and 
often  elaborated  into  formal  essays,  such  as  the  "  Dia 
logue  between  the  Head  and  the  Heart,"  a  neatly 
executed  bit  of  satire  reflecting  the  fashionable  senti- 
mentalism  of  the  period.  His  most  illustrious  literary 
achievement  is  the  "Declaration  of  Independence." 
The  sonorous  style,  as  well  as  the  political  philosophy 
of  this  document,  has  lost  something  of  its  original 
charm  with  the  lapse  of  time,  but  the  statement  of 
principles,  beginning  with  the  well-worn  words  :  "  We 
hold  these  truths  to  be  self  evident :  that  all  men  are 
created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  inalienable  rights,  that  among  these 
are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  has 
continued  to  be  the  rallying  cry  of  great  political 
bodies  whose  ideals  of  self-government  are  still 
derived  largely  from  the  teachings  of  this  Revolu 
tionary  statesman. 

In  politics  and  philosophy  Jefferson  was  an  extreme 
radical,  having  imbibed  the  spirit  of  the  brilliant 
theorists  Hobbes,  Locke,  and  Rousseau,  and  having 
become  familiar  with  French  revolutionary  principles 


82  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

during    his   residence   in   France   as   the   diplomatic 
successor  of  Franklin.     His  political  creed,  presented 

in  his  first  inaugural  address,  was  "equal 
Jefferson's 

Political  and  exact  justice  to  all  men,  of  whatever 
state  or  persuasion,  religious  or  political,'' 
and  "freedom  of  religion,  freedom  of  the  press,  and 
freedom  of  person  under  protection  of  the  habeas 
corpus,  and  trial  by  juries  impartially  selected."  His 
faith  in  the  people  was  sublime.  The  new  govern 
ment,  "the  world's  best  hope,"  instead  of  proving 
weak,  as  some  feared,  he  believed  to  be  "  the  strongest 
government  on  earth."  Notwithstanding  his  excessive 
devotion  to  somewhat  illusory  doctrines  of  human 
rights,  and  in  spite  of  the  excesses  into  which  his 
principles  have  sometimes  betrayed  the  nation,  we 
must  still  regard  his  writings  as  the  best  embodiment 
of  ideal  Americanism  —  freedom  of  the  individual, 
belief  in  the  people,  confidence  in  majorities,  and 
universal  education  as  the  final  safeguards  of  liberty. 
Jefferson's  great  political  adversary  was  Alexander 
Hamilton,  soldier,  orator,  statesman,  genius  of  finance 
—  in  many  respects  the  most  brilliant  and  creative 
intellect  of  the  Revolutionary  era.  When  but  seven 
teen  years  old,  moved  by  a  quick-born  aiiji  irresistible 
patriotism,  he  addressed  the  multitudes  in 

Alexander 

Hamilton,        the  streets  of  New  York  with  precocious 
power,  and  from  that  moment  was  a  lead 
ing  figure  in  the  movements  of  the  period.     To  Ham 
ilton,  more  than   to   any  other  one  man,  the  nation 


n]  PERIOD   OF  THE   REVOLUTION  83 

probably  owes  the  establishment  of  a  constitutional 
government.  In  the  struggle  over  the  Constitution 
political  parties  had  their  origin.  The  Federalists, 
under  the  leadership  of  Hamilton,  regarding  extreme 
popular  sovereignty  with  conservative  distrust,  advo 
cated  a  strong  central  government  as  necessary  to 
secure  the  stability  of  the  nation.  The  Anti-Feder 
alists,  led  by  Jefferson,  pushed  for  a  more  extended 
freedom  for  the  individual  and  for  the  principle  of 
"state  rights."  Like  Washington,  Hamilton  extended 
his  hand  reluctantly  to  unlettered  and  unwashed  de 
mocracy,  perhaps  "bewitched  and  perverted,"  as  Jef 
ferson  charged,  "by  the  British  example."  The  main 
issue  of  this  great  dispute  was  not  finally  settled 
until  the  Civil  War,  and  the  Constitution  was  con- 
structed  out  of  compromises.  To  aid  in  securing  its 
adoption  by  explaining  and  defending  its  provisions, 
Hamilton,  James  Madison,  the  "Father  of  the  Con- 
stitution,"  and  John  Jay,  soon  to  be  the  first  Chiei 
Justice,  wrote  the  "Federalist,"  a  series  of  eighty 
five  essays,  published  in  a  New  York  The  "Fed-  : 
newspaper,  over  the  signature  "Publius."  eralist" 
The  arguments  in  these  papers,  the  greater  munbei 
of  which  were  by  Hamilton,  are  clear,  cogent,  and 
effective.  They  constitute  our  finest  and  almost  only 
political  classic,  and  form,  in  the  judgment  of  Fiske, 
"the  most  profound  and  suggestive  treatise  on  gov 
ernment  that  has  ever  been  written."  The  style  of 
these  papers,  like  that  of  all  the  political  writing 


84  AMERICAN    LITE  NATURE  [CHAP. 

of  the  period  except  Franklin's,  is  somewhat  ponder 
ous,  with  its  Latinized  diction  and  carefully  balanced 
periods.  It  is  Johnsonian  prose,  but  is  vitalized  with 
a  freshness  of  feeling  and  a  sincerity  of  purpose  quite 
foreign  to  real  Johnsonese.  The  majesty  of  the 
themes  under  discussion  would  seem  to  have  im 
pressed  itself  upon  the  style  of  these  earnest  writers. 
The  thought  moves  forward  with  a  heavy  rhythmic 
swing,  like  the  resounding  tread  of  marching  armies. 
The  august  personality  of  Washington  left  its 
impress  upon  literature  in  the  "  Farewell  Address,'' 
given  to  the  people  upon  his  retiring  from  the  presi 
dency.  As  an  expression  of  the  character  of  the  man, 
whom  Gladstone  called  "  the  purest  figure  in  history," 

this     address     possesses     an     inestimable 
George 

Washington,  value.  It  is  known  that  he  was  assisted 
in  the  first  draft  by  Hamilton,  but  its 
stately  dignity  of  phrase,  its  large-hearted  sincerity, 
its  wisdom  and  nobility  of  thought,  are  unmistakably 
his  own.  Portions  of  his  letters  and  journals,  and 
notably  the  address  of  1783  to  "  The  Governors  of  all 
the  States,''  have  much  more  than  a  historic  interest, 
when  read  as  records  of  the  ideal  promptings  of  a 
singularly  exalted  soul. 

The  Diary  and  Correspondence  of  John  Adams  are 
delightfully  readable  and  invaluable  as  contributions 
to  the  political  and  social  history  of  the  period.  They 
contain  minute  records  and  vivid  pictures  of  men  and 
events,  somewhat  colored  and  always  enlivened  by  the 


n]  PERIOD  OF  THE   REVOLUTION  85 

writer's  personal  prejudices.  His  style  is  clear,  crisp, 
frank,  free  from  affectations,  and  full  of  character. 
The  most  finished  orator  among  the  Feder-  john  Adams, 
alists  was  Fisher  Ames,  whose  speech  in  I735  l8a6 
favor  of  the  treaty  with  England  negotiated  by  John 
Jay,  and  eulogies  of  Washington  and  Hamilton,  de 
serve  to  be  included  in  the  choicest  literary  remains 
of  the  period.  He  is  learned,  classical,  elegant,  and 
eloquent,  but  too  ornate  for  present  taste.  "  He  has 
something  of  Burke's  affluence  of  imagi-  pisherAmes, 
nation,"  says  Whipple,  "  something  of  '758-1808 
Burke's  power  of  condensing  political  wisdom  into 
epigrammatic  apothegms,"  but  he  lacks  Burke's  force 
of  intellect  and  passion.  "  He  was  the  despairing 
champion  of  a  dying  cause;  he  decorated  the  grave 
of  Federalism  with  some  of  the  choicest  flowers  of 
rhetoric;  but  the  flowers  are  now  withered,  and  the 
tomb  itself  hardly  receives  its  due  meed  of  honor." 

The  writings  of  Washington,  Adams,  Hamilton,  Jefferson, 
Madison,  Jay,  are  a  recognized  portion  of  our  literature,  because 
the  hoarded  wisdom  slowly  gathered  in  by  their  practical  knowl 
edge  of  life  crops  out  in  their  most  familiar  correspondence. 
A  truism  announced  by  such  men  brightens  into  a  truth, 
because  it  has  evidently  been  tested  and  proved  by  their  ex 
perience  in  conducting  affairs.  There  is  an  elemental  grandeur 

in  Washington's  character  and  career  which  ren- 

Whipple  s 
ders  impertinent  all  mere  criticism  on  his  style  ;    characteriza- 

for  what  he  was  and  what  he  did  are  felt  to  out-   tion  of  these 
value  a  hundredfold  what  he  wrote.    John  Adams 
had  a  large,  strong,  vehement  mind,  interested  in  all  questions 
relating  to  government.     He  was  a  personage  of  indomitable 


86  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

individuality,  large  acquirements,  quick  insight,  and  resolute 
civic  courage  ;  but  the  storm  and  stress  of  public  affairs  gave 
to  much  of  his  thinking  a  character  of  intellectual  irritation, 
rather  than  of  sustained  intellectual  energy.  His  moral  im 
patience  was  such  that  he  seems  to  fret  as  he  thinks.  Jefferson, 
of  all  our  early  statesmen,  was  the  most  efficient  master  of  the 
pen,  and  the  most  "  advanced  "  political  thinker.  In  one  sense, 
as  the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  he  may  be 
called  the  greatest,  or  at  least  the  most  generally  known,  of 
American  authors.  ...  As  a  political  leader  he  was  literally 
a  man  of  letters  ;  and  his  letters  are  masterpieces,  if  viewed  as 
illustrations  of  the  arts  by  which  political  leadership  may  be 
attained.  .  .  .  Hamilton  was,  next  to  Franklin,  the  most  con 
summate  statesman  among  the  band  of  eminent  men  who  had 
been  active  in  the  Revolution,  and  who  afterward  labored  to 
convert  a  loose  confederation  of  states  into  a  national  govern 
ment.  His  mind  was  as  plastic  as  it  was  vigorous  and  pro 
found.  ...  In  intellect  he  was  probably  the  most  creative  of 
our  early  statesmen,  as  in  sentiment  Jefferson  was  the  most 
widely  influential.  It  is  difficult  to  say  what  this  accomplished 
man  might  have  done  as  a  leader  of  the  Federal  opposition  to 
the  Democratic  administrations  of  Jefferson  and  Madison,  had 
he  not,  in  the  maturity  of  his  years  and  in  the  full  vigor  of  his 
faculties,  been  murdered  by  Aaron  Burr.  .  .  .  Webster  finely 
said  that  "  the  spotless  ermine  of  the  judicial  robe,  when  it  fell 
on  the  shoulders  of  John  Jay,  touched  nothing  not  as  spotless  as 
itself."  His  integrity  ran  down  into  the  very  roots  of  his  moral 
being,  and  honesty  was  in  him  a  passion  as  well  as  a  principle. 
.  .  .  With  all  his  mental  ability,  Madison  had  not  much 
original  force  of  nature.  He  leaned  now  to  Hamilton,  now 
to  Jefferson,  and  at  last  fell  permanently  under  the  influence 
of  the  genius  of  the  latter.  He  was  lacking  in  that  grand 
moral  and  intellectual  impulse,  underlying  mere  knowledge 
and  logic,  which  distinguishes  the  man  who  reasons  from  the 
mere  reasoner.  His  character  was  not  on  a  level  with  his 
talents  and  acquirements.1 

/ 

iWhipple's  "  American  Literature/'  pp.  14-19. 


ii]  PERIOD   OF   THE    REVOLUTION  87 

REVOLUTIONARY  POETRY 

Poetry  during  the  Revolutionary  period  remained 
in  its  dependent  and  imitative  condition.     The  influ 
ence  of  the  school  of  Pope  was  predominant ;   all  seri 
ous   attempts   were   reflections   of    accepted   English 
masterpieces.     The  earliest  note  of  origi-  Lack  of 
nality  is  heard  in  the  songs  and  ballads   Originaiity 
that  appeared  in  profusion,  as  a  kind  of  crude  musical 
accompaniment  to  the  Revolutionary  oratory,  harsh 
and  monotonous,  like  the  fife  and  drum  music  of  the 
time,  but  an  effective  rallying  call  to  patriots. 

Balladry  is  the  people's  poetry,  and  to  become  clas 
sic  a  ballad  must  express  a  sentiment  of  universal  ap 
peal  and  must  pass  through  the  refining  processes  of 
the  ages.  Such  are  the  old  English  ballads  of  love 
and  adventure.  Our  early  American  ballads  and  pop 
ular  lyrics,  though  filled  with  the  strife  and  passion 
of  the  times,  largely  lost  their  significance 

•  ,1,1  .  „  ,,     .     .         .       i    Ballads 

with  the  passing  ot  events  that  inspired 
them.  They  lack  the  romantic  interest  of  the  old 
Robin  Hood  and  Border  ballads  of  the  "north  coun- 
tre " ;  there  is  none  of  the  enchantment  of  distance, 
tradition,  and  mystery ;  and  the  sins  of  King  George 
and  his  ministers  no  longer  quicken  the  pulses  with 
patriotic  ardor. 

There  are  two  mighty  speakers, 

Who  rule  in  Parliament, 
Who  ever  have  been  seeking 

Some  mischief  to  invent  ; 


88  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

1Twas  North,  and  Bute  his  father, 

The  horrid  plan  did  lay 
A  mighty  tax  to  gather 

In  North  America. 

In  endless  rhymes  of  this  doggerel,  singsong  type, 
that  were  easily  shouted  to  some  popular  air,  the 
whole  history  of  the  conflict  may  be  found  recorded ; 
but  they  are  now  claimed  by  oblivion  rather  than  by 
literature.  Many  are  clever,  spirited,  humorous,  and 
pungent  with  satire,  but  without  the  saving  grace  of 
an  artistic  touch  in  the  composition.  Such  are  "  The 
Battle  of  the  Kegs,"  by  Francis  Hopkinson,  "The 
Fate  of  John  Burgoyne,"  "  Bold  Hawthorne,"  and 
"  Brave  Paulding  and  the  Spy."  The  tender  and  me 
lodious  "  Ballad  of  Nathan  Hale "  is  too  good  to  be 
forgotten.  One  of  the  most  popular  productions  on 
the  Tory  side  was  "  The  Cow  Chase,"  a  parody  on  the 
old  Chevy  Chase,  written  by  Major  Andre  to  ridicule 
"  mad  "  Anthony  Wayne.  One  of  the  very  worst  of 
these  rollicking  ballads  is  the  famous  "  Yankee's  Ee- 
turn  from  Camp,"  sung  to  the  tune  of  "  Yankee  Doo 
dle,"  which  appeared  in  1775.  Two  lyrics  of  the  period 
have  been  adopted  as  national  songs,  Joseph  Hopkin- 
son's  "  Hail  Columbia,"  written  in  1798,  and  Francis 
Scott  Key's  "Star-spangled  Banner,"  written  in  3814, 
during  the  British  bombardment  of  Fort  McHenry. 
Robert  Treat  Paine's  "Adams  and  Liberty"  and  Tim 
othy  Dwight's  "  Columbia  "  have  maintained  a  celeb 
rity  quite  unwarranted  by  their  merits. 


n]  PERIOD   OF   THE    REVOLUTION  89 

The  strongest  form  of  versifying  was  the  political 
satire.  Dry  den  and  Pope  taught  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury  the  use  of  satire  as  a  weapon  in  political  warfare, 

s-~~~~  /      ^ 

and  just  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  Churchill's 
corruscations  of  satirical  wit  were  aston-  The 
ishing  the  English  speaking  world.  The  Satirists 
American  struggle  produced  abundant  imitations  of 
the  English  models,  but  few  of  them  survived  their 
temporary  usefulness.  Of  all  forms  of  poetry  satire 
is  most  liable  to  an  early  death ;  nothing  short  of 
the  wit  of  consummate  genius  can  save  it.  The 
chief  satirists  on  the  Patriot  side  were  John  Trum- 
bull,  Francis  Hopkinson  and  Philip  Freneau,  and  on 
the  Loyalist  side,  Joseph  Stansbury  and  Jonathan 
Odell.  Two  of  these,  Trumbull  and  Freneau,  came 
so  near  being  poets  as  to  deserve  brief  study.1 

The  most  celebrated  satire  of  the  Revolution  was 
Trumbull's    "  McFingal,"    a  burlesque   epic,  modeled 
after  Butler's  "  Hudibras."     It  first  appeared  in  1776, 
became   at    once    marvelously   popular,   ran   through 
more  than  thirty  editions,  "  penetrated  into          Trum- 
every  farmhouse,  and  sent  the  rustic  vol-  bull, 
unteers  laughing  into  the  ranks  of  Wash-   I75<> 
ington."     The  hero  is  a  pretentious  Tory  who,  for  his 
defiant  harangues  in  the  town  meeting  and  obstinate 
defense  of  the  king,  is  tarred  and   feathered  by  the 
patriot  mob,  and  fastened  ignominiously  to  the  liberty 

1  For  a  full  account  of  these  satirists,  see  Tyler's  "  Literary  His 
tory  of  the  American  Revolution." 


90  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

pole.  Although  imitative  in  form  and  unfortunate 
in  its  Scotch  title,  the  poem  is  genuinely  American  in 
spirit,  and  accurately  representative  of  the  political 
sentiments  and  customs  of  the  days  of  '76.  It  is  well 
spiced  with  wit  and  humor,  and  original  enough  to  be 
worthily  compared  with  its  famous  prototype.  Many 
of  its  couplets  are  so  neatly  turned  in  the  Hudibrastic 
manner  as  to  be  generally  credited  to  Butler  in  current 
quotation.  For  example  :  — 

No  man  e'er  felt  the  halter  draw, 
With  good  opinion  of  the  law  ; 
Or  held  in  method  orthodox, 
His  love  of  justice  in  the  stocks  ; 
Or  failed  to  lose  by  sheriff's  shears 
At  once  his  loyalty  and  ears. 

Trumbull  belonged  to  a  coterie  of  Connecticut 
writers  known  as  the  "  Hartford  Wits,"  who  made 
Hartford  for  a  time  the  literary  capital  of  the  colo 
nies,  as  Boston  was  before,  and  New  York  after  the 
Revolution.  Among  them  were  Joel  Barlow  and 

Timothy  Dwight,  afterward  president  of 
"Hartford  Yale  College.  Filled  with  patriotic  zeal 

and  confident  of  their  summons  from  the 
Muses,  these  poets  determined  to  establish  an  Ameri 
can  literature  that  should  be  commensurate  with  the 
greatness  of  the  rising  republic.  The  result  was 
much  flapping  and  spreading  of  wings,  but  no  flight 
toward  the  empyrean  of  true  poetry.  There  was  big 
ness,  but  not  greatness.  America  —  or  Columbia,  as 


n]  PERIOD   OF   THE    REVOLUTION  91 

the  poets  preferred  —  should  have  at  once  a  grand 
national  epic,  like  the  "  Iliad  "  ;  so  Barlow  wrote  his 
"  Columbiad,"  published  first,  in  1787,  as  the  "  Vision 
of  Columbus,"  and  in  its  final  and  enlarged  form  in 
1807.  Borrowing  the  plan  from  the  elev-  joel  Barlow, 
enth  book  of  "Paradise  Lost,"  the  author  iws-ifaa' 
has  Columbus  led  from  prison  by  "Hesper"  to  a 
"  hill  of  vision,"  who  there  unfolds  before  him  the 
history  and  future  greatness  of  America.  This  pro 
digious  epic  astonished  readers  for  a  time  with  its 
gorgeous  panoply  of  words,  its  resounding  patriotism 
being  mistaken  for  poetry,  but  it  now  lies  undisturbed 
beneath  the  dust  of  a  century.  Hawthorne  playfully 
suggested  that  it  be  set  to  the  music  of  artillery  and 
thunder  and  lightning,  as  a  kind  of  national  oratorio. 
Barlow  was  more  successful  with  mock  heroics  than 
with  real  heroics.  His  "  Hasty  Pudding,"  written  in 
Savoy  in  1793,  and  dedicated  to  Mrs.  Washington,  is 
pleasantly  humorous,  and  redolent  of  the  cornfields 
and  kitchens  of  New  England.  His  intimate  knowl 
edge  of  the  old-time  farmer's  life  is  shown  in  many 
homely  pictures  quite  as  realistic  as  the  description  of 
the  "  husking  "  :  — 

Where  the  huge  heap  lies  center'd  in  the  hall. 

The  lamp  suspended  from  the  cheerful  wall, 

Brown,  corn-fed  nymphs,  and  strong,  hard-handed  beaux, 

Alternate  ranged,  extend  in  circling  rows, 

Assume  their  seats,  the  solid  mass  attack  ; 

The  dry  husks  rustle,  and  the  corncobs  crack  ; 

The  song,  the  laugh,  alternate  notes  resound, 


92  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

And  the  sweet  cider  trips  in  silence  round. 

The  laws  of  husking  every  wight  can  tell, 

And  sure  no  laws  he  ever  keeps  so  well : 

For  each  red  ear  a  general  kiss  he  gains, 

With  each  smut  ear  he  smuts  the  luckless  swains  ; 

But  when  to  some  sweet  maid  the  prize  is  cast, 

Red  as  her  lips  and  taper  as  her  waist, 

She  walks  the  round  and  culls  one  favor'd  beau, 

Who  leaps  the  luscious  tribute  to  bestow. 

Various  the  sport,  as  are  the  wits  and  brains 

Of  well-pleased  lasses  and  contending  swains  ; 

Till  the  vast  mound  of  corn  is  swept  away. 

And  he  that  gets  the  last  ear  wins  the  day. 

Another  grandiloquent  epic  was  Dwight's  "  Con 
quest  of  Canaan,"  published  in  1785,  "the  first  of 
the  kind  which  has  been  published  in  this  country," 
proudly  wrote  the  author.  It  contains  between  nine 
and  ten  thousand  verses,  arranged  in  well-starched 
Augustan  couplets,  stiffly  braced  with  artificial  an 
titheses.  With  a  patriotic  stretch  of  epic  consistency, 
the  War  of  Independence  is  inserted  among  the  wars 

of  the  Israelites.      To  read  this  epic,  or 
Timothy 

Dwight,  any  considerable  portion  of  it,  would  re 
quire  heroic  patience.  But  not  so  with 
the  author's  moralized  pastoral,  "  Greenfield  _HillT"  in 
which  there  are  encouraging  hints  of  real  poetic  feel 
ing.  It  pleasantly  describes  a  Connecticut  village, 
recalling  distantly  Denham's  "  Cooper's  Hill,"  and 
reflecting  the  influence  of  Thompson,  Goldsmith,  and 
Beattie.  But  nothing  that  he  wrote  in  verse  is  so 
valuable  as  his  "  Travels  in  New  England  and  New 


nj  PERIOD   OF   THE    REVOLUTION  93 

York,"  an  entertaining  description  of  personal  ob 
servation  and  experience,  which  must  increase  in 
interest  and  historical  value  as  time  goes  on.  Dwight 
was  the  grandson  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  and  proved 
his  inheritance  of  theological  power  in  his  best-known 
work,  "  Theology  Explained  and  Defended,"  which 
has  passed  through  more  than  a  hundred  editions, 
as  the  authoritative  and  fundamental  presentation  of 
New  England  orthodoxy. 

It  is  a  high  distinction  to  bear  what  Sidney  called 
"  the  sacred  name  of  poet."  Among  the  Revolution 
ary  rhymers,  Philip  Freneau  alone  established  a  full 
right  to  this  name.  In  the  opinion  of  Tyler,  he  was 
"a  true  man  of  genius,  the  one  poet  of  unquestion 
able  originality  granted  to  America  prior  to  the  nine 
teenth  century."  He  might  have  been  a 
gentle  and  graceful  singer  of  imperishable  Freneau, 
songs,  but  the  times  made  him  a  fierce  and  I75a" 
bitter  satirist.  With  astonishing  facility  he  turned 
events  and  sentiments  of  the  hour  into  ballads,  satires, 
and  lampoons,  burning  with  patriot  resentment  and 
vituperative  scorn,  which  perished  with  the  hour  they 
served.  But  a  few  scattered  lyrics  reveal  the  real 
poet,  born  out  of  due  time.  In  contrast  with  the 
ponderous  dullness  of  Dwight  and  Barlow,  such  lines 
as  these  from  "  The  Wild  Honeysuckle  "  are  a  refresh 
ing  surprise :  — 

Fair  flower,  that  dost  so  comely  grow, 
Hid  iu  this  silent,  dull  retreat, 


94  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Untouched  thy  honied  blossoms  blow, 

Unseen  thy  little  branches  greet ; 
No  roving  foot  shall  crush  thee  here, 
No  busy  hand  provoke  a  tear. 

By  Nature's  self  in  white  arrayed, 
She  bade  thee  shun  the  vulgar  eye, 

And  planted  here  the  guardian  shade, 
And  sent  soft  waters  murmuring  by  , 

Thus  quietly  thy  summer  goes. 

Thy  days  declining-  to  repose. 

This  delicate  little  poem  is  as  distinct  a  departure 
from  the  established  models  of  eighteenth-century 
poetry  as  Burns's  "  To  a  Field  Mouse  "  and  "  To  the 
Daisy,"  and  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  Freneau's  first 
volume  of  poems  and  Burns's  first  volume  appeared  in 
the  same  year,  1786.  Pope  and  his  devoted  followers 
never  discovered  nature ;  there  are  no  wild  flowers 

and  bird  notes  in  their  poetry.     Freneau 
Beginning  J 

of  Nature  proved  the  genuineness  of  his  gift  by 
breaking  away  from  conventions.  His 
songs  are  fresh,  original,  and  musical.  He  saw  the 
difference  between  natural  rhythm  and  mechanical 
rhythm,  and  he  discovered  the  poetic  beauty  of  sim 
ple  objects  in  nature.  This  weak,  but  genuine,  strain 
of  nature  music  was  prelusive  of  the  full,  rich  tones 
of  Bryant  and  Emerson.  In  the  "  Indian  Burying 
Ground"  and  "Indian  Student,"  Freneau  gave  the 
first  suggestion  of  that  pensive,  romantic  quality  with 
which  the  life  of  the  departing  red  men  was  invested 
by  Longfellow.  The  first  of  these  poems  Campbell 


nj  PERIOD   OF   THE   REVOLUTION  05 

complimented  by  borrowing  a  line  without  acknowl 
edgment  for  his  "O'Connor's  Child."  The  poem  on 
the  battle  of  "  Eutaw  Springs  "  was  similarly  honored 
by  Scott,  who  pronounced  it  one  of  the  finest  things  of 
its  kind  in  the  language,  and  inserted  one  of  its  best 
lines  in  "Marmion."  The  little  poem,  "To  a  Honey 
Bee,"  Stedman  regards  as  "good  enough  to  be  Lan- 
dor's,"  and  "The  House  of  Night,"  which  anticipates 
the  weirdness  of  Foe,  Richardson  thinks  to  be  "the 
best  poem  written  in  America  before  1800."  Surely, 
with  these  lyrics  before  the  world1,  American  poetry 
had  made  a  respectable  beginning. 

Prominent  among  the  "  Hartford  Wits  "  was  David 
Humphreys,  who  enjoyed  the  intimate  friendship  of 
Washington,  and  celebrated  it  in  the  once  admired 
ode  "  Mount  Vernon."  Barlow,  Trumbu.ll,  and  Hum 
phreys  published,  in  1786,  a  series  of  satirical  papers 
called  the  "Anarchiad,"  in  the  manner  of  the  "Rol- 
liad,"  which  appeared  a  year  earlier  in  England.  The 
purpose  of  these  papers  was  to  correct  the  evils  of  the 
political  confusion  that  prevailed  just  be-  political 
fore  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  and  Satire 
they  contain  much  clever  ridicule  of  the  Democrats 
and  their  great  chief,  Jefferson ;  for  the  Connecticut 
writers  were  all  Federalists.  A  similar  series  called 
the  "Echo,"  was  written  by  Dwight  and  Richard 
Alsop.  Trumbull  also  published  a  series  of  essays 
called  "The  Meddler,"  in  the  style  of  Addison  and 
Steele,  whose  influence  controlled  all  light  prose  writ- 


96  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CIIAI-. 

ing  down  to  living's  "Sketch  Book."  The  leading 
Democratic  wit  was  Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge,  a 
Pennsylvania  judge,  and  author  of  "Modern  Chiv 
alry."  This  excellent  political  satire  reflects  the 
influence  of  Cervantes,  Fielding,  and  Sterne,  but  its 
strong-flavored  frontier  humor  and  homely  wisdom  are 
thoroughly  American.  He  also  won  fame  in  his  own 
time  by  two  dramatic  poems,  "  Battle  of  Bunker's  Hill " 
and  "  Death  of  Montgomery." 

The  "  Poems  "  of  the  negro  girl,  Phillis  Wheatley, 

published  in  London  in  1773,  afford  one  of  the  most 

singular  cases  of  precocity  known  to  literature.     They 

rank  with  the  best  of  the  American  echoes 

Phillis 

wheatiey,  of  the  English  classicists,  and  there  can  be 
no  doubt  of  their  genuineness,  since  the 
early  editions  contain  the  testimony  of  estimable 
people  of  Boston,  to  the  fact  that  they  "  were  written 
by  Phillis,  a  young  negro  girl,  who  was,  but  a  few 
years  since,  brought  an  uncultured  barbarian  from 
Africa."  Alexander  Wilson,  the  "father  of  American 
Alexander  ornithology,"  was  our  earliest  poet  natural- 
wiison,  ist.  His  poem,  "The  Foresters,"  shows 

the  poet's  sensitive  appreciation,  as  well  as 

William  . 

Livingston,  the  scientist  s  close  observation  of  nature. 
1723-1790  Qne  Q£  £jie  most  pleasing  imitations  of  Pope 
is  Livingston's  "Philosophic  Solitude,"  in  which  the 
antitheses  and  imagery  of  the  "Kape  of  the  Lock,"  are 
deftly  reproduced ;  — 


n]  PERIOD   OF   THE    REVOLUTION 

Mine  be  the  pleasure  of  a  rural  life, 

From  noise  remote  and  ignorant  of  strife, 

Far  from  the  painted  belle  and  white-gloved  beau, 

The  lawless  masquerade  and  midnight  show  ; 

From  ladies,  lapdogs,  courtiers,  garters,  stars, 

Fops,  fiddlers,  tyrants,  emperors,  and  czars. 


In  1818  the  young  Bryant  wrote  for  the  North  Am 
erican  Review  a  critical  survey  of  American  poetry,  in 
which  he  mentions  only  those  poets  whom  he  esteemed 
worthy  to  be  remembered,  passing  over  many  names 
"  because  he  would  not  willingly  disturb  their  passage 
to  that  oblivion  toward  which,  to  the  honor  of  our 
country,  they  are  hastening."  It  is  a  Bryant's 
melancholy  evidence  of  the  wreckage  Criticism 
wrought  by  time  with  literary  reputations  that  not  one 
of  those  whom  he  does  mention  is  now  read  or  remem 
bered.  Of  all  this  strenuous  versifying  in  the  eigh 
teenth  century  only  a  few  lyrics  remain  as  a  permanent 
part  of  literature.  The  chief  value  of  all  the  rest  is 
historical.  Bryant  condemned  his  brother  bards  for 
their  "  sickly  and  affected  imitation  of  the  peculiar 
manner  of  the  late  popular  poets  of  England."  But 
his  censure  was  really  too  severe.  In  the  tumult  of 
war  and  the  uncertainty  of  nation-building  there  could 
be  no  new  creative  impulses  and  no  prevailing  aesthetic 
purpose  in  literature ;  it  must  serve  the  purpose  of  the 
day,  and  that  purpose  was  mainly  political. 

But  a  new  dawn  was  breaking.     When  Bryant  wrote 
his  criticism,  he  had  already  published  "  Thanatopsis  " 


98  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

and  "To  a  Waterfowl."     A  new  influence  had  come 
from  England,  where  the  spell  of  Pope  was  broken  be 

fore  the  close  of  the  century.  The  year  in 
Change  in 

English  which  Dwight's  "Conquest  of  Canaan"  ap 

peared,  Cowper's  "  Task  "  was  published. 
Crabbe's  "  Village  "  appeared  two  years  before.  While 
Barlow  was  writing  his  "  Vision  of  Columbus  "  Burns 
was  writing  his  immortal  songs.  In  1789,  the  year  of 
the  Constitution,  appeared  William  Blake's  "  Songs  of 
Innocence,"  and  Gilbert  White's  "Natural  History 
of  Selborne,"  and  in  1798  came  Wordsworth  and 
Coleridge's  "Lyrical  Ballads."  This  new  force  in 
poetry  was  felt  in  America  as  soon  as  the  era  of  peace 
and  settled  government  had  fully  opened. 

As  the  Revolutionary  epoch  drew  to  a  close  there  was  a 

general  awakening  to  the  need  of  aesthetic  culture,  and  atten 

tion  was  given  to  other  forms  of  art.     Benjamin 

ining  of     west  Won  fame  abroad  as  a  painter.     Copley,  in 


Art  Boston,  and  Peale,  in  Philadelphia,  painted  hun 

dreds  of  portraits  of  the  Revolutionary  heroes, 
while  the  battle  scenes  were  spread  upon  canvas  by  Colonel 
Trumbull  ;  and  the  portraits  of  Gilbert  Stuart  ranked  with  the 
masterpieces  of  the  English  school. 

The  drama  was  also  making  headway  against  the  prejudice 
and  poverty  of  the  New  World.  In  1752,  for  the  first  time  in 
this  country,  a  play  ("The  Merchant  of  Venice")  was  given 
by  professional  actors,  at  Williamsburg,  Va.  A  theater  was 
built  in  New  York  in  1753,  and  another  in  1759  in  Philadelphia. 

The  first  American  play  to  be  acted  by  profes- 
The  Drama  .  .  ,.  ,  „,  ,  ,  .,  ~  .  ,,  . 

sionals  was  Royal   Tyler's  ''Contrast,"  given  in 

New  York  in   1786,  a  comedy,  in  which  the  character  of  the 
"  stage  Yankee  "  appeared,  which  has  since  become  so  familiar. 


n]  PERIOD   OP  THE   REVOLUTION  99 

Tyler's  "Georgia  Speculator  "  also  had  a  popular  run  in  Bos 
ton  iu  1797,  and  two  years  later  appeared  the  same  author's 
"  Algerine  Captive,"  one  of  the  earliest  attempts  at  liction. 
William  Dunlap,  a  painter,  historian,  and  playwright  of  New 
York,  did  much  to  promote  the  interests  of  art  and  the  drama. 
In  1818  John  Howard  Payne's  "Brutus"  appeared,  one  of  the 
very  few  American  plays  that  have  continued  upon  the  stage. 
In  1829  "  Metamora,"  written  by  John  A.  Stone  for  Edwin 
Forrest,  the  first  great  American  tragedian,  set  the  fashion  for 
Indian  plays.  At  the  close  of  the  War  of  1812,  we  find  the 
artistic  instincts  of  America  aroused  in  many  directions ;  the 
ground  was  prepared  for  the  rich  growth  of  the  next  period. 

Class  Reading.  — Battle  of  the  Kegs  ;  Ballad  of  Nathan  Hale; 
Hail  Columbia ;  Adams  and  Liberty  ;  The  Liberty  Song ;  The 
Yankee,  Man-of-War  ;  The  Star-spangled  Banner ;  The  Hasty 
Pudding ;  The  Indian  Burying  Ground  ;  The  Indian  Student ; 
The  Wild  Honeysuckle  ;  Eutaw  Springs  ;  To  a  Honey  Bee. 


CHARLES   BROCKDEN   BROWN 
1771-1810 

Imaginative  literature  made  a  better  beginning  in 
fiction  than  in  poetry.  The  "  sentimental  ism  "  that 
was  rising  to  flood  tide  in  English  literature  appeared 
in  1790  in  Mrs.  Susanna  Eowson's  "Charlotte  Tem 
ple,"  a  novel  bedewed  with  the  tears  of  many  thou 
sands  of  readers.  In  contrast  to  this  was  _ 

r  ITS  t 

Mrs.   Tabitha   Tenney's  "  Female    Quixot-  American 
ism,"  1808,  which  satirized  "  the  lachrymose 
and  gushing  willingness  of  young  women  to  believe 
in  everything   superficially  romantic."     James   Feni- 
more  Cooper  began,  in   1821,  his   remarkable    series 


100  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAJ-. 

of    novels    \\itli    ••  The    Spy";    the    same    year    .John 

Neal,    whose    multitudinous forces,    says    Wliipple, 

"  occupy  all  the_  province  of  letters/'  produced  his 
"Logan,"  followed  by  "  Seventy-six  "  and  other  his 
torical  tales;  and  in  1824  Catharine  Maria  Sedgwick's 
"  Redwood  "  achieved  the  celebrity  of  four  European 
translations.  But  the  real  founder  of  American  fic 
tion  was  Charles  Brockden  Brown, [our  first  profes 
sional  man  of  letters,  Whose  extraordinary  books  can 
still  be  read  with  more  than  merely  a  student's 
interest.  He  was  born  in  Philadelphia  in  177.1,  and 
divided  his  life  of  thirty-nine  years  between  that  citj7 
and  New  York.  He  was  retiring  and  studious  in  his 
nature,  morbid  and  introspective  in  thought,  the  vicr. 
tim  of  constant  ill  health  and  of  the  poverty  enforced 
by  his  devotion  to  literature.  In  1799  he  established 
in  New  York  the  Monthly  Magazine  and  American 
Register,  which  lived  but  one  year;  in  1803  the 
Literary  Magazine  and  American  Register,  in  Phila 
delphia,  which  survived  five  years ;  and  in  1806  the 
American  Register,  which  continued  until  his  death, — 
names  and  dates  indicative,  not  only  of  Brown's 
struggles,  but  also  of  the  early  struggles  of  periodical 
literature. 

Between  1798  and  1801  Brown  wrote  and  published 
six  novels,  the  best  of  which  are  "  Wieland,"  '•  Edgar 
Huntley,"  and  "  Arthur  Mervyn."  The.  last  is  cele 
brated  for  its  realistic  descriptions  of  the  yellow  fever 
scourge  in  Philadelphia  in  1793,  recalling  the  similar 


n]  PERIOD   OF   THE   REVOLUTION  101 

work  of  De  Foe.  In  "Edgar  Huntley  "  he  anticipated 
Cooper  by  introducing  Indian,  characters  and  peril 
ous  adventures  in  the  remote  wilderness. 

Brown's 

These  novels  are  generally  condemned  Novels: 
for  their  many  palpable  faults,  without 
being  credited  with  their  real  merits.  They  are  fan 
tastic  mixtures,  of  the  cxt  rav;ig;m1  .scut  imrntalil  y  :md 
absurd  romance  that  ran  riot  in  English  fiction  before 
Scott  gave  sanity  and  principles  to  romance  writing. 
They  belong  to  the  "  nightmare  school,"  with  Wai- 
pole's  "Castle  of  Otranto,"  Mrs.  Kadcliffe's  " Myste 
ries  of  Udolpho,"  William  Godwin's  '' ;  Caleb  Williams," 
and  Mrs.  Shelley's  "  Frankenstein."  They  possess 
all  the  stage  properties  of  melodramatic  sensations, 
secret  passages,  forged  letters,  hidden  treasure,  hor 
rors  of  blood  and  mystery,  victims  of  ventriloquism, 
somnambulism,  and  madness.  The  plots  are  care^ 
lessly  constructed,  the  diction  is  stilted,  the  heroines 
are  too  "  nymph-like  "  and  "  celestial "  to  be  human, 
and  the  heroes  are  morbid  or  monstrous.  The  atmos 
phere  is  one  of  midnight  mystery,  that  induces  the 
sensation  of  creepiness,  and  the  prevailing  _tone  is 
melancholy. 

Yet  in  spite  of  all  this,  as  Richardson  remarks,  one 
is  sure  to  find,  even  in  the  poorest  of  Brown's  novels, 
"some  touch  of  what  we  call  genius."  He  knew  the 
trick  of  holding  the  attention  by  pkjuing  the  curj^gifcy, 
as  well  as  some  of  the  methods  of  modern  "  realism," 
in  the  use  of  minute  details  for  presenting  vivid  scenes, 


102  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

and  in  psychological  probings  after  motives.  In  weird 
imaginativeness  his  novels  are  forerunners  of  Poe's 
Their  "  Tales,"  and  foreshadowinga  of  Haw- 

Merits  thorne's  subtile  dealings  with  mystery.    In 

his  style  and  thought  he  betrays  his  indebtedness  to 
Godwin  and  his  wife,  Mary  Wollstonecraft.  Under  the 
influence  of  the  latter,  doubtless,  he  wrote  "  Alcuin," 
the  earliest  protest  in  this  country  in  behalf  of  woman's 
higher  privileges.  The  poet  Shelley  was  powerfully 
influenced  by  these  novels,  and  his  own  experiments 
in  prose  fiction,  and  those  of  Mrs.  Shelley,  were  largely 
due  to  this  influence. 

"  With  all  his  inflation  of  style,"  says  Thomas  Went- 
worth  Higginson,  "he  was  undoubtedly,  in  his  way,. a 
careful  observer.  The  proof  of  this  is,  that  he  has 
preserved  for  us  many  minor  points  of  life  and  man 
ners  which  make  the  Philadelphia  of  a  century  ago 
now  more  familiar  to  us  than  is  any  other  American 
city  of  that  period.  He  gives  us  the  roving  Indian,; 

the  newly  arrived  French  musician  with 
Their 

Historical  violin  and  monkey ;  the  one-story  farm 
houses,  where  boarders  are  entertained  at  a 
dollar  a  week;  the  gray  cougar  amid  caves  of  lime 
stone.  We  learn  from  him  '  the  dangers  and  toils  of  a 
midnight  journey  in  a  stage  coach  in  America.  The 
roads  are  knee  deep  in  mire,  winding  through  crags 
and  pits,  while  the  wheels  groan  and  totter,  and  the 
curtain  and  roof  admit  the  wet  at  a  thousand  seams.' 
We  learn  the  proper  costume  for  a  youth  of  good 


n]  PERIOD   OF   THE    REVOLUTION  108 

fortune  and  family  —  '  nankeen  coat  striped  with 
green,  a  white  silk  waistcoat  elegantly  needle- wrought, 
cassiinere  pantaloons,  stockings  of  variegated  silk,  and 
shoes  that  in  their  softness  vie  with  satin.'  When 
dressing  himself,  this  favored  youth  ties  his  flowing 
locks  with  a  black  ribbon.  We  discover  also,  with 
some  surprise,  that  negroes  were  freely  admitted  to 
ride  in  stage  coaches  in  Pennsylvania,  although  they 
were  liable,  half  a  century  later,  to  be  ejected  from 
street  cars.  We  learn  also  that  there  were  negro  free 
schools  in  Philadelphia.  All  this  was  before  1801." 

Reading  and  Discussion. — Arthur  Mervyn. 

Biography  and  Criticism. — Sparks's  "American  Biogra 
phy,"  Vol.  I.  Encyclopedia  Britannica.  Prescott's  "Miscel 
lanies."  Richardson's  ''American  Literature,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  286- 
289.  Carpenter's  •' American  Prose."  Tuckerman's  "  Essays, 
Biographical  and  Critical."  Barrett  Wendell's  "  Literary  His 
tory  of  America." 

The  patriotism  of  the  Revolutionary  period  is  pecu 
liarly  illustrated  in  the  work  of  Noah  Webster.     The 
discharged  soldiers  had  hardly  reached  their  homes 
when  he  began  publishing  school  text-books  for  the 
new  republic.     In  1783  appeared  the  first  part  of  "  A 
Grammatical  Institute  of  the  English  Language,  com 
prising  an  Easy,  Concise,  and  Systematic 
Method  of  Education,  designed  for  the  Use   Webster, 
of  English  Schools  in  America."    This  com-   I758-'843 
prehensive  scheme  was  to  be  given  to  the   world  in 
three  parts,  a  speller,  a  grammar,  and  a  reader.     This 


104  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

famous  "  speller,"  of  which  it  is  estimated  over  sixty 
millions  of  copies  have  been  issued,  "may  fairly  be 
called  the  first  book  published  in  the  United  States  of 
America."  In  18U8  appeared  the  "American  Dictionary 
of  the  English  Language,"  a  work  that  marks  an  epoch 
in  the  history  of  English  speech.  "  Let  us  seize  the 
present  moment,''  said  Webster,  "and  establish  a  na 
tional  language  as  well  as  a  national  government." 
Upon  the  basis  of  this  lexicographical  declaration  of 
independence  he  constructed  his  great  book,  assuming 
as  radical  an  attitude  toward  the  sanctities  of  British 
speech  as  his  fellow  nation-builders  had  assumed 
toward  the  British  Constitution. 

One  book  belonging  to  this  period  possesses  a  truly 
unique  interest,  the  "  Journal "  of  John  Woolman, 
"beyond  comparison,"  declared  Charming,  "the  sweet 
est  and  purest  autobiography  in  the  lan- 
wooiman,  guage."  Charles  Lamb  wrote :  "  Get  the 
writings  of  John  Woolman  by  heart,  and 
love  the  early  Quakers."  Similarly  Coleridge  was  fas 
cinated  by  the  beauty  and  tenderness  of  this  quaint  nar 
rative.  Woolman  was  a  Quaker,  born  in  New  Jersey  in 
1720,  a  tailor  by  trade,  a  great  traveler,  a  friend  of  the 
Indians,  and  an  opponent  of  slavery.  Whittier  says  in 
the  introduction  to  his  edition  of  the  "  Journal " :  "I 
have  been  awed  and  solemnized  by  the  presence  of  a 
serene  and  beautiful  spirit,  redeemed  of  the  Lord  from 
all  selfishness,  and  I  have  been  made  thankful  for  the 
ability  to  recognize,  and  the  disposition  to  love  him." 

VSj 


ii]  PERIOD   OF   THE    REVOLUTION  105 


HISTORICAL   BACKGROUND 

Bancroft's  "History  of  the  United  States,"  Vols.  Ill,  IV, 
V.  Fiske's  "American  Revolution"  and  "Critical  Period." 
Lecky's  "  American  Revolution."  Trevelyan's  "The  American 
Revolution."  McMaster's  "  History  of  the  People  of  the 
United  States,"  Vols.  I,  II.  Winsor's  "Narrative  and  Critical 
History  of  America,"  Vol.  VI,  and  "Reader's  Handbook  of 
the  American  Revolution."  Iligginson's  "Larger  History  of 
the  United  States,"  chaps.  9-12.  Sloane's  "The  French  War 
and  Revolution,"  pp.  116-369.  Hart's  "Formation  of  the 
Union"  (Epochs  of  American  History),  pp.  42-101.  Tyler's 
"Literary  History  of  the  American  Revolution."  Frothing- 
ham's  "Rise  of  the  Republic."  Walker's  "The  Making  of 
the  Nation"  (American  History  Series).  Lossing's  "Field 
Book  of  the  American  Revolution."  Sparks's  "  American 
Biography,"  2d  series,  Vol.  II  (Otis).  Scudder's  "Men  and 
Manners  in  America  One  Hundred  Years  Ago."  Irving's 
"  Life  of  Washington."  Parton's  "Life  of  Franklin."  Hos- 
mer's  "Samuel  Adams."  Tyler's  "Patrick  Henry."  Lodge's 
"Washington"  and  "Hamilton."  Morse's  "Jefferson"  and 
"John  Adams."  Gay's  "  Madison."  Schouler's  "  Jefferson" 
(Makers  of  America).  Sumner's  "Hamilton"  and  "Robert 
Morris."  Trent's  "Southern  Statesmen  of  the  Old  Regime" 
(Washington,  Jefferson,  Randolph).  Headley's  "Washington 
and  his  Generals."  Alice  Brown's  "Mercy  Warren."  Mrs. 
Goodwin's  "Dolly  Madison."  Mrs.  Wharton's  "Martha 
Washington."  Mrs.  Humphrey's  "Catharine  Schuyler."  Mrs. 
Ravenel's  "Eliza  Pinckney."  Todd's  "Life  and  Letters  of 
Joel  Barlow."  Tyler's  "Three  Men  of  Letters."  Austin's 
"  Philip Freneau. "  Atlantic  Monthly,  Vol.  XV  ("  The  Pleiades 
of  Connecticut"). 

Contemporary  Literature.  —  Hart's  "  American  History  told 
by  Contemporaries."  "  Letters  of  John  and  Abigail  Adams." 
Stedman  and  Hutchinson's  "Library  of  American  Literature." 
Johnston's  "American  Orations,"  Vol.  I.  The  "Federalist." 


106  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP,  n 

Moore's  "Songs  and  Ballads  of  the  American  Revolution." 
Eggleston's  "American  War  Ballads  and  Lyrics,"  Vol.  I. 
Franklin's  "Works."  "Declaration  of  Independence"  and 
Washington's  "  Farewell  Address"  (Maynard's  English  Classic 
Series).  "Old  South  Leaflets,"  4,  9,  10,  12,  15,  1C,  68,  86,  97, 
98,  99. 

Illustrative  Literature. — Longfellow's  "Paul  Revere  \s 
Ride."  Bryant's  "Song  of  Marion's  Men"  ;  "Seventy-six." 
Holmes' s  "  Grandmother's  Story  of  Bunker  Hill  Battle  "  ;  "  In 
dependence  Bell";  "Ballad  of  the  Boston  Tea-party."  Em 
erson's  "  Boston"  ;  "  Concord  Hymn."  Pierpont's  "  Warren's 
Address."  Lanier's  "Battle  of  Lexington."  Matthews's 
"Poems  of  American  Patriotism."  Mrs.  Child's  "The 
Rebels."  Cooper's  "Spy  "  and  "  Pilot. "  Simms's  "  Partisan." 
Miss  Sedgwick's  "The  Linwoods."  Cooke's  "Virginia  Come 
dians."  Kennedy's  "Horseshoe  Robinson."  Butterworth's 
"Patriot  Schoolmaster."  Mitchell's  "Hugh  Wynne."  Mrs. 
Harrison's  "Son  of  the  Old  Dominion."  Ford's  "Janice 
Meredith."  Churchill's  "  Richard  Carvel."  Webster's  "  Bun 
ker  Hill  Orations."  Everett's  "Orations  and  Speeches,"  Vol. 
III. 


CHAPTER    III 
THE   KNICKERBOCKER   WRITERS 

THE  period  from  1815  to  1837  may  be  appropriately 
called  the  period  of  national  expansion.  The  turmoil 
of  jwar_had_£eased,  English  aggression  was  forever  at 
an  end,  and  the  United  States  were  established  as  a 
great  nation.  The  party  quarrels  over  the  new  Consti 
tution  were  settled,  temporarily  at  least,  and  an  "  Era 
of  Good  Feeling "  was  inaugurated.  The  period  of 
work  of  national  consolidation  had  been  E*Pansion 
accomplished,  and  now  the  work  of  national  develop 
ment  was  pushed  vigorously  forward.  Peace,  prpgh 
perity,  native  energy,  and  the  pride  of  a  new-born 
nationality  stimulated  enterprise  in  every  direction  ; 
enthusiastic  effort  for  expansion  was  the  order  of  the 
day. 

The  remarkable  expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  in 
1804-1806,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  led  to 
dreams  of  golden  possibilities  in  the  illimitable  West. 
The  defeat  of  the  Indians  along  the  south- 

i  nc  west- 

era  and  western  frontier  and  the  death  of  ward  Move- 
Tecumseh,  in  1813,  opened  vast^  regions  to 
secure  settlement,  and  a  stream  of  emigration  began 
to  flow  westward  that  soon  spread  like  a  flood  over 
107 


108  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

the  whole  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  Then  states 
were  rapidly  cut  out  of  the  wilderness  and  added  to 
the  nation ;  during  the  period  the  "  old  thirteen  "  were 
increased  to  twenty-four,  and  between  1810  and  1840 
the  population  advanced  from  seven  to  seventeen 
millions.  This  sudden  transformation  of  the  wilder 
ness  becomes  more  interesting  and  incredible  to  us  as 
it  becomes  inore_remote.  In  1828  a  local  historian  of 
Ohio  wrote :  "  We  stand  in  the  midst  of  a  state  which 
but  little  more  than  thirty  years  ago  was  all  possessed 
by  ruthless  savages;  and  we  now  see  cities  and  towns, 
more  than  an  hundred  thousand  militia,  nearly  a 
million  inhabitants,  two  canals,  the  one  nearly  seventy 
and  the  other  three  hundred  miles  in  length,  a  great 
number  of  flourishing  villages,  handsome  farmhouses, 
and  every  indication  of  comfort  and  abundance ;  and 
the  whole  scene  has  at  first  view  the  aspect  of  fable 
and  enchantment." 

This  period  was  also  a  period  of  great  inventions, 
which  aided  material  development  and  revolutionized 
modern  life.  In  1807  Fulton  launched  his  first  steam 
boat,  and  a  few  years  later  these  boats  were  transport- 
Material  ing  emigrants  on  the  western  rivers  and 
Progress  lakes.  In  18.25  the  Erie  Canal  was  opened; 
in  1835  Morgfi  set  up  his  first  telegrjiph  wire  ;  and  in 
1838  the  first  steamship  crossed  the  Atlantic.  It  was 
an  era  of  large  projections  and  broad  foundations. 
Every  man  was  making  history  and  adding  to  the 
national  glory.  Life  was  filled  with  wild  and  pictur- 


nil  THE    KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  109 

esque  experience,  the  rich  material  of  poetry  and 
romance,  not  a  tithe  of  which  has  yet  been  converted 
from  its  crude  state  into  literature.  "  There  was  never 
a  clearing  made  in  the  forest,"  says  Dr.  Holmes,  "  that 
did  not  let  in  the  light  on  heroes  and  heroines." 
Irving' s  "  Tour  on  the  Prairies  "  and  "  Captain  Bonne- 
ville,"  Cooper's  "Pioneers,"  and  Paulding's  "West 
ward  Ho  "  are  contemporary  records  in  literary  form 
that  have  an  abiding  freshness  of  interest.  But  the 
epic  or  adequate  history  of  this  marvelous  western 
movement  is  yet  to  be  written. 

Coincident  with  the  widespread  industrial  impulses 
of  the  nation  there  was  an  awakening  of  literary 
impulses  toward  independent  creativeness.  ('American 

literary  genius  was  born J   In  1837  Emerson, 

'    American 

in  his  memorable  address  at  Harvard  Col-  Literary  in- 
lege  on  "The  American  Scholar,"  said:  dePendence 
"  Our  day  of  dependence,  our  long  apprenticeship  to 
the  learning  of  other  lands,  draws  to  a  close.  The 
millions  that  around  us  are  rushing  into  life  cannot 
always  be  fed  on  the  sere  remains  of  foreign  harvests. 
Events,  actions,  arise  that  must  be  sung,  that  will  sing 
themselves."  This  address  was  itself  received  as 
evidence  that  the  American  intellect  had  achieved  its 
independence.  Several  literary  reputations  were 
already  established,  and  some  works  of  genuine  native 
genius  had  been  produced.  From  that  date  our 
literature  exchanged  its  attitude  of  dependence  and 
imitation  for  one  of  adventurous  freedom  and  self- 


110  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

confidence,  sustaining  henceforth  toward  English 
literature  only  those  mutual  relations  and  reflections 
that  necessarily  exist  between  two  literatures  of  the 
same  language  and  people. 

The  year  1837  marks  even  a  more  important  epoch 
in  English  literature.  It  was  the  year  of  Queen 
Victoria's  accession,  of  Dickens's  "  Pickwick  Papers," 
and  of  Carlyle's  "  French  Revolution."  The  great 
poets  of  the  Romantic  School,  Byron, 
Victorian  Keats,  Shelley,  Coleridge,  and  Scott,  were 
in  their  graves,  and  the  leading  voices  of 
the  Victorian  choir,  the  Brownings  and  Tennyson, 
were  beginning  to  be  heard.  Wordsworth  and  Southey 
were  alive,  but  silent.  The  Promethean  heat  of  these 
poets  of  revolution  in  England  was  borne  across  the 
Atlantic  to  light  the  fires  on  our  new  altars.  Words- 
worth  filled  the  young  Bryant's  soul  with  solemn 
ecstasy,  and  the  lyric  passion  of  Byron  arid  Moore 
stirred  lesser  poets  into  song;  Scott  gave  models  to 
Cooper ;  while  Irving,  though  influenced  by  a  con 
servative  taste  that  led  him  back  to  Addison  and 
Goldsmith,  in  his  American  sketches  and  Spanish 
tales  was  as  genuine  a  romanticist  as  Coleridge.  Our 
authors  of  this  period  began  as  imitators,  but  in 
"  Thanatopsis,"  "  The  Spy,"  and  "  Rip  Van  Winkle  " 
were  soon  recognized  the  voices  of  a  new  realm  of 
literary  independence  and  originality. 

During  the  colonial  period  Boston  was  the  intel 
lectual  center  of  America,  and  was  again  to  become 


in]  THE   KNICKERBOCKER   WRITERS  111 

the  literary  capital,  but  at  the  beginning  of  the  cen 
tury  the  center  of  literary  activity  was  at  New  York. 
Here  several  young  authors  were  associated  in  a 
genial  literary  and  social  companionship,  remotely 
suggestive  of  the  club  and  coffee-house  life  of  Eng 
lish  literature  in  the  eighteenth  century.  The 
Many  of  these  were  contributors  to  the  boc^er*"' 
Knickerbocker  Magazine ;  some  of  them  School '  • 
were  descendants  of  the  old  "Knickerbocker  fami 
lies'';  hence  they  have  been  loosely  styled  the 
"Knickerbocker  Schoo)."  The  name  belongs  more 
strictly  toj  Irving,  Paulding,  Drake,  and  Halleck,;but 
associated  with  these,  more  or  less  intimately,  were 
Bryant,  Cooper,  Dana,  Willis,  Woodworth,  and  others 
whose  writings  were  chiefly  published  in  New  York 
before  1850.  The  earliest  members  of  the  group  were 
called  by  Poe  the  "  Pioneers  of  American  literature." 
The  central  figure  of  the  company,  and  in  some  senses 
the  founder  of  American  literature,  was  Washington 
Irving. 

WASHINGTON   IRVING 
1783-1859 

Washington  Irving  was  born  in  William  Street, 
New  York,  April  3,  1783,  just  as  General  Washington 
with  his  patriot  troops  took  possession  of  the  city. 
When  Washington  again  came  to  the  city  to  assume 
the  presidency,  the  child's  Scotch  nurse,  filled  with 


112 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE 


[CHAP. 


the  prevailing  enthusiasm,  followed  the  hero  one  day 
and  presented  his  little  namesake.  "Please,  your 
washin  ton  h°nor>"  said  Lizzie,  "here's  a  bairn  was 
and  his  named  after  you."  Gently  touching  the 

child's   head,  the   great   man  bestowed   a 
blessing  upon  his  future  biographer. 

Irving  was 
mainly  self-edu 
cated  ;  he  read 
extensively,  en 
joying  especially 
books  of  travel, 
and  adventure, 
and  wrote  juve 
nile  poems  and 
plays.  At  sixteen 
he  entered  a  law 
office,  but  find 
ing  the  work  dis 
tasteful,  studied 
literature  more 
zealously  than 
law.  With  what 
thoroughness  he  read  Addison's  "  Spectator  "  is  shown 
by  a  series  of  critical  and  humorous  essays  written 
Eari  Tastes  w^en  nineteen  for  his  brother's  paper,  the 
and  Educa-  Morning  Chronicle,  and  signed  "  Jonathan 
Oldstyle."  '/'During  these  years  he  spent 
much  time  in  wandering  along  the  banks  of  the  Hud- 


Washington  Irving 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  113 

son,  gathering  its  romantic  and  legendary  lore,  by 
means  of  which  he  afterward  gave  to  the  region  hn- 
perishable_litei;ary  associations.  In  1804  he  was  sent 
abroad  for  a  year  for  his  health.  He  traveled  in 
France  and  Italy,  and  in  Rome  made  the  acquaintance 
ot  Washington  Allston,  who  nearly  persuaded  him  to 
become  .an  artist.  This  contact  with  the  art  and  cul 
ture  of  the  Old  World  was  an  important  part  of  his 
education,  leading  to  the  tastes  and  ideals  that  charac 
terized  all  his  literary  work. 

Upon  his  return  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  bub 
preferred  to  be  a  "  champion  at  the  tea-parties  "  rather 
than  a  pleader  in  the  courts.  His  graceful  manners, 
refined  tastes,  and  ready  humor  made  him  a  universal 
favorite  in  society.  In  1807,  in  connection  with  his 
brother  William  and  his  friend  Paulding,  he  published 
"Salmagundi,  or  the  Whim-whams  and  p. 
Opinions  of  Launcelot  Langstaff,  Esq.,  and  Literary 
Others,1'  a  series  of  sparkling  and  success 
ful  essays  in  the  manner  of  the  "  Spectator  "  and  Gold 
smith's  "Citizen  of  the  World."  Three  years  later 
appeared  "  Knickerbocker's  History  of  New  York,"  a 
masterpiece  of  delicious  and  perennial  humor,  which 
was  immediately  successful  at  home  and  abroad. 
Scott  thought  it  as  fine  as  Dean  Swift's  best  satire, 
read  it  aloud  to  his  household,  and  declared,  "  our 
sides  have  been  absolutely  sore  with  laughter."  In 
tended  as  a  mere  burlesque  of  the  pretentious  work 
of  a  local  historian,  it  turned  out  to  be  the  initial 


114  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

volume  of  original  American  literature;  moreover,  it 
created  the  historic  New  Amsterdam,  and  the  Dutch 
tradition  as  it  is  to-day.  In  this  mock-serious  descrip 
tion  of  the  fat,  somniferous,  waddling  Dutch  burghers, 
in  the  good  old  honest  days  of  the  "  renowned  Wouter 
van  Twiller"  and  "Peter  the  Headstrong,"  with  his 
silver  leg  and  "  brimstone-colored  breeches/'  when 
the  "  burgomasters,  like  our  aldermen,  were  generally 
chosen  by  weight,"  when  "every  woman  staid  at  home, 
read  the  Bible,  and  wore  pockets,"  and  every  "  goede 
vrouw"  made  "her  husband's  linsey-woolsey  galligas 
kins,"  and  when  "the  truly  fashionable  gentleman" 
would  "manfully  sally  forth,  with  pipe  in  mouth, 
to  besiege  some  fair  damsel's  obdurate  heart,"  and 
"rarely  failed,  in  the  process  of  time,  to  smoke  the 
fair  enemy  into  a  surrender,  upon  honorable  terms," 
Irving  somewhat  offended  the  descendants  of  the  old 
Dutch  worthies  with  his  irreverent  fun-making,  but 
the  resentment  was  soon  lost  in  the  general  laughter. 
While  writing  this  book  a  heavy  bereavement  came  upon 
him  in  the  death  of  Matilda  Hoffman,  to  whom  he  was 
about  to  be  married ;  the  effects  of  this  event  colored 
his  whole  subsequent  life.  It  "  seemed,"  he  once  said, 
"to  give  a  turn  to  my  whole  character  and  throw  some 
clouds  into  my  disposition  which  have  ever  since  hung 
about  it." 

Irving  again  went  abroad,  in  1815,  and  remained 
seventeen  years,  spending  the  greater  part  of  the  time 
in  England.  The  poets,  Southey,  Moore,  Campbell, 


in]  THE   KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  115 

and  Rogers  were  his  friends ;  his  happy  memories  of 
Scott  are  preserved  in  the  charming  "  Recollections 
of  Abbotsford  " ;  and  his  name  will  always  Residence 
be  associated  with  that  of  Shakspere  at  in  Europe 
Stratford,  where  mementos  of  his  devoted  pilgrim 
age  are  still  kept  sacred  in  the  Red  Horse  Inn. 
In  England  he  wrote  the  "  Sketch  Book/'  which  ap 
peared  in  181.9,  introducing  the  immortal  "  Rip  Van 
Winkle "  to  the  world.  This  was  soon  followed  by 
"  Bracebridge  Hall"  and  "Tales  of  a  Traveler." 
Irving  was  now  famous  in  two  continents.  "  Geof 
frey  Crayon  is  the  most  fashionable  fellow  of  the 
day,"  said  the  English  painter,  Leslie.  "  His  Crayon 
—  I  know  it  by  heart,"  said  Byron,  "  his  writings  are 
my  delight."  Even  the  cynical  reviewers,  who  read 
American  books  only  to  abuse  them,  loudly  praised 
the  "  Sketch  Book."  Indeed,  this  little  volume  of 
essays,  inspired  by  scenes  upon  both  sides  of  the 
ocean,  was  the  first  efficacious  means  of  closing  the 
breach  of  enmity  and  prejudice  between  England  and 
America. 

Three  years  were  spent  in  Sjpain,  in  the  preparation 
of  the  "  Life  of  Columbus."  For  some  time  he  resided 
in  the  famous  palace  of  the  Alhambra,  and  obtained 
material  for  three  other  works  of  enduring  beauty, 
••The  Alhambrn."  ihr  ••  ( 'onijuest  of  Granada,"  and 
"  Legends  of  Spain."  In  1830  he  was  made  Secretary 
of  Legation  at  the  English  court,  and  was  honored 
with  the  medal  of  King  George  from  the  Royal 


116 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE 


[CHAP. 


Society  of  Literature  and  the  degree  of  D.C.L.  from 
the  University  of  Oxford.  Two  years  later  he  re- 
Return  to  turned  to  America  and  was  received  by  his 
Amenca  admiring  countrymen  with  overwhelming 
enthusiasm.  He  now  established  a  home  upon  the 


living's  Home,  "  Sunnyside  " 

Hudson,  called  "  Sunnyside,"  a  pretty  stone  cottage 
in  the  Dutch  style,  "modeled  after  the  cocked  hat 
of  Peter  the  Headstrong."  Here  he  spent  the  next 
ten  years  in  quiet  literary  labor,  producing  "  Recol 
lections  of  Abbotsford  and  Newstead  Abbey," 
"  Wolfert's  Roost,"  "  Mahomet  and  his  Successors," 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  117 

the   delightful   "  Life  of  Goldsmith,"  and  three  vol 
umes  of  western  adventure. 

During  Irving's  long  residence  abroad  the  settle 
ment  of  the  great  West  had  been  going  forward,  and 
npon  his  return  he  found  that  the  frontier  had  been 
pushed  beyond  the  Mississippi.  Possessed  by  "a 
great  curiosity  "  to  see  something  of  the  wild  life  of 
this  vast  region  that  was  attracting  so  western 
much  attention,  he  made  a  trip  to  some  of  Adventure 
the  remote  trading  posts  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas. 
This  experience  was  embodied  in  a  "Tour  on  the 
Prairies,"  one  of  our  very  best  records  of  western 
adventure.  A  friendship  with  John  Jacob  Astor  led 
to  the  writing  of  "  Astoria,"  an  interesting  book  con 
structed  from  the  dry  commercial  records  of  the  set 
tlement  established  by  Mr.  Astor  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Columbia  River.  At  the  house  of  Mr.  Astor,  Irving 
met  a  veteran  hunter  and  trapper,  from  whom  he 
obtained  materials  for  the  "Adventures  of  Captain 
Bonneville,"  a  narrative  of  thrilling  adventure  in  the 
Kocky  Mountains. 

In  1842  Irving  received,  through  the  recommenda-i 
tion  of  Daniel  Webster,  the  appointment  as  Minister  j 
to  Spain ;  but  the  life  of  courts  and  palaces  had  lost 
its  charm  for  him  ;  after  three  years  he  writes :  "  I 
long  to  be  once  more  back  at  dear  little  Sunnyside, 
while  I  have  yet  strength  and  good  spirits  to  enjoy 
the  simple  pleasures  of  the  country,  and  to  rally  a 
happy  family  group  once  more  about  me.  I  grudge 


118  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

every  year  of  absence  that  rolls  by."     The  following 
year  "  the  impatient  longing  of  his  heart  was  grati 
fied."  says  his  biographer,  "and  he  found 
Last  Years 

himself  restored  to  his  home  for  the  thir 
teen  years  of  happy  life  still  remaining  to  him."  His 
career  was  fittingly  rounded  with  the  publication  of 
his  "  Life  of  Washington."  While  the  praises  of  this 
work  Avere  loudly  sounding  death  came,  November 
28,  1859,  and  he  was  buried  near  Sleepy  Hollow,  amid 
the  scenes  loved  by  him  through  life  and  made  for 
ever  memorable  by  his  pen. 

The  personality  of  Irving  is  one  of  the  most  lovable 

in  o\ir  literature,  and  the  presence  of  this  gracious 

personality  in  his  writings  is  always  a  refining  and 

beneficent    influence ;    no    one    reads    his 

Personal  and 

Literary  books  without  being  made  happier  and 
^ua  better.  Grace  of  language,  chaste  and  noble 

thought,  idealism  and  romance,  a  chivalrous  regard  for 
pure  womanhood,  genial  humor,  tenderness  and  sym 
pathy  were  the  qualities  of  both  his  life  and  his  works. 
"  His  books,"  says  Warner,  "  are  wholesome,  full  of 
sweetness  and  charm,  of  humor  without  any  sting,  of 
amusement  without  any  stain."  His  mind  was  not 
profound,  and  he  did  not  discuss  the  deeper  problems 
of  life ;  an  ideal  and  spiritual  simplicity  was  the  rest 
ful  attitude  of  his  thought.  His  philosophy  was  one 
of  optimisjn  and  good  cheer,  and  his  attitude  toward 
his  fellow-men  was  one  of  sympathetic  interest  and 
confidence.  "  I  have  always  had  an  opinion,"  he  says, 


111]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  119 

"that  much  good  might  be  done  by  keeping  mankind 
in  good  humor  with  one  another ;  "  and  he  refused  to 
believe  "  this  to  be  so  very  bad  a  world  as  it  is  repre 
sented."  His  genius  was  reminiscent  and  dwelt  most 
naturally  and  contentedly  in  the  fields  of  history,  tra 
dition,  and  romance.  The  enchanted  air  of  Moorish 
Spain  was  an  inspiration  to  him.  Mellow  England, 
grown  old  and  rich  with  history  and  song,  was  always 
dear  to  him.  "  I  cannot  describe,"  he  says,  "  the  mute 
but  deep-felt  enthusiasm  with  which  I  have  contem 
plated  a  vast  monastic  ruin  like  Tintern  Abbey,  buried 
in  the  bosom  of  a  quiet  valley,  and  shut  up  from  the 
world  as  though  it  had  existed  merely  for  itself ;  or  a 
warrior  pile,  like  Comvay  Castle,  standing  in  stern 
loneliness  on  its  rocky  height,  a  mere  hollow  yet 
threatening  phantom  of  departed  power."  But  there 
was  a  past  in  American  history  which  he  loved  equally 
well.  He  did  for  the  region  of  the  Hudson  what  Scott 
did  for  his  native  land,  investing  it  with  an  atmosphere 
of  poetry  as  distinct  and  national  as  that  which  rests 
upon  the  Tweed  and  the  banks  and  braes  of  Yarrow. 

Thackeray,  in  his  beautiful  tribute  to  Irving,  calls 
him  "  the  Goldsmith  of  our  age "  ;    and  Dr.  Holmes 
speaks  of  him  as  that  "pure,  tender,  play-   critical 
ful,   loving  author,   dear  to  both  English   Estimates 
worlds,  but  dearest  to  us  as  the  day  star  of  our  Ameri 
can  literature."     "  His  gifts,"  says  Beers,  "  were  sen 
timent  and  humor,  with  an  imagination   sufficiently 
fertile,  and  an  observation  sufficiently  acute  to  support 


120  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

those  two  main  qualities,  but  inadequate  to  the  service 
of  strong  passion  or  subtle  thinking,  though  his  pathos, 
indeed,  sometimes  reached  intensity.  His  humor  was 
always  delicate  and  kindly;  his  sentiment  never 
degenerated  into  sentimentality."  "  God  bless  him  !  " 
exclaimed  Byron,  when  reading  the  "Sketch  Book," 
"he  is  a  genius;  and  he  has  something  better  than 
genius  —  a  heart." 

As  an  essayist  Irving  was  a  student  of  Addison, 
but  the  essays  in  the  "  Sketch  Book "  and  "  Brace- 
bridge  Hall "  are  distinguished  from  their  models  by 
original  qualities  quite  as  clearly  as  are  the  essays  of 
Goldsmith  and  Lamb.  The  essay  upon  Westminster 
Abbey  is  as  worthy  of  its  noble  theme  as  Addison's 
essay  with  the  same  title,  and  the  Christmas  sketches 
Essays  g^11  more  than  they  lose  by  comparison 

and  Tales  with  the  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley  papers. 
Irving's  subjects  are  generally  foreign,  but  he  makes 
them  his  own  by  investing  them  with  his  fascinating 
individuality.  More  than  by  the  pure,  classic,  pol 
ished  language,  which  so  astonished  the  English 
because  written  by  an  American,  one  is  charmed  by 
the  distinctive  atmosphere  of  the  essays.  Everything 
is  tender,  delicate,  poetic,  and  beautiful ;  and  a  gentle 
melancholy  as  of  Indian  summer  often  pervades  the 
scenes.  The  rollicking  humor  of  "Knickerbocker"  is 
chastened  and  refined  in  the  essays,  and  pathos  and 
humor  often  mingle  like  mist  and  sunshine  in  autumn 
afternoons.  To  a  writer  so  filled  with  poetic  and  ro- 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER   WRITERS  121 

inantic  sentiment  it  was  an  easy  transition  from  de 
scriptions  of  Old  World  life  and  rural  scenery  to 
romantic  tales  like  "  Rip  Van  Winkle,"  "  The  Spectre 
Bridegroom,"  and  the  "  Tales  of  the  Alhambra."  So 
excellent  was  his  skill  in  constructing  an  artistic 
short  story  that  more  credit  is  due  him  than  has  gen 
erally  been  given  for  establishing  the  type  in  Ameri 
can  literature. 

living's  work  as  a  historian  and  biographer  may 
be  neglected,  but  cannot  be  forgotten.  For  the  schol 
arly  investigation  and  devotion  to  minute  details, 
characteristic  of  modern  historical  writing,  his  genius 
was  not  adapted,  but  in  describing  great  episodes  and 
painting  stately  portraits,  colored  with  all  the  poetic 
and  romantic  possibilities  of  the  subject,  Asa 
he  has  had  few  superiors.  "  His  biogra-  Biographer 
phies,"  says  Richard  Garnett,  "however  deficient  in  re 
search,  bear  the  stamp  of  genuine  artistic  intelligence, 
equally  remote  from  compilation  and  disquisition. 
In  execution  they  are  almost  faultless ;  the  narrative 
is  easy,  the  style  pellucid,  and  the  writer's  judgment 
nearly  always  in  accordance  with  the  general  verdict 
of  history.  They  will  not,  therefore,  be  easily  super 
seded,  and  indeed  living's  productions  are  in  general 
impressed  with  that  signet  of  classical  finish  which 
guarantees  the  permanency  of  literary  work  more 
surely  than  direct  utility  or  even  intellectual  power." 
One  of  the  biographies  is  almost  unique.  The  "  Life 
of  Goldsmith"  is  a  classic  that  can  never  lose  its 


122  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

charm,  perfect  in  its  grace  of  composition,  and  perfect 
in  its  gracious  tone  and  warmth  of  sympathy.  The 
volatile,  thriftless,  lovable  poet  was  as  near  to  the  heart 
of  Irving  as  his  own  vagabondish  Rip  Van  Winkle. 

"Irving  seems  to  have  been  born,"  says  Warner, 
"with  a  rare  sense  of  literary  proportion  and  form; 
into  this  as  into  a  mold  were  run  his  apparently  lazy 
and  really  acute  observations  of  life."  In  accounting 
for  his  style,  it  is  not  enough  to  say  that  he  mastered 
the  best  English  prose  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
irving's  "There  remains  a  large  margin  for  wonder 
style  how,  with  his  want  of  training,  he  could 

have  elaborated  a  style  which  is  distinctively  his  own, 
and  is  as  copious,  felicitous  in  the  choice  of  words, 
flowing,  spontaneous,  flexible,  engaging,  clear,  and  as 
little  wearisome  when  read  continuously  in  quantity 
as  any  in  the  English  tongue.  This  is  saying  a  great 
deal,  though  it  is  not  claiming  for  him  the  compact 
ness,  nor  the  robust  vigor,  nor  the  depth  of  thought, 
of  many  other  masters  in  it.  It  is  sometimes  praised 
for  its  simplicity.  It  is  certainly  lucid,  but  its  sim 
plicity  is  not  that  of  Benjamin  Franklin's  style ;  it  is 
often  ornate,  not  seldom  somewhat  diffuse,  and  always 
exceedingly  melodious.  It  is  noticeable  for  its  meta 
phorical  felicity.  But  it  was  not  in  the  sympathetic 
nature  of  the  author  to  come  sharply  to  the  point. 
It  is  much  to  have  merited  the  eulogy  of  Campbell, 
that  he  had  'added  clarity  to  the  English  tongue.' " l 

1  Charles  Dudley  Warner's  "  Life  of  Irving,"  p.  2<>3. 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  123 

Class  Study.  —  Sketch  Book :  The  Voyage  ;  Rural  Life 
in  England  ;  Rip  Van  Winkle  ;  Rural  Funerals  ;  The  Spectre 
Bridegroom  ;  Westminster  Abbey  ;  Christinas  ;  Christmas  Eve  ; 
Christmas  Day  ;  The  Christmas  Dinner ;  Stratford-on-Avon  ; 
The  Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow. 

Alhambra :  Palace  of  the  Alhambra ;  Inhabitants  of  the 
Alhambra  ;  Hall  of  Ambassadors  ;  Tower  of  Comares  ;  Court  of 
Lions  ;  The  Moor's  Legacy  ;  The  Three  Beautiful  Princesses  ; 
The  Rose  of  the  Alhambra. 

Class  Reading.  —  Bracebridf/e  Hall:  The  Stout  Gentle 
man  ;  The  Hall ;  Ready-money  Jack  ;  A  Literary  Antiquary  ; 
St.  Mark's  Eve  ;  May  Day  Customs ;  Village  Worthies ;  The 
Rookery  ;  The  Wedding. 

Crayon  Miscellany :  Abbotsford  ;  Tour  on  the  Prairies. 

Itnickerbocker''s  History  of  New  York,  Bk.  Ill,  chaps.  1-4. 

Biography  and  Criticism. — Pierre  M.  Irving's  "Life  of 
Washington  Irving."  Warner's  "  Washington  Irving"  (Amer 
ican  Men  of  Letters).  Hill's  "  Life  of  Washington  Irving." 
Stoddard's  "Biographical  Sketch"  (Kaaterskill  edition). 
"  Irvingiana."  Boynton's  "Washington  Irving"  (Riverside 
Biographical  Series).  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  Vol.  XIII 
(Richard  Garnett).  Shepard's  "  Pen  Pictures  of  Earlier  Vic 
torian  Authors."  Curtis' s  "  Literary  and  Social  Essays." 
Thackeray's  "Nil  Nisi  Bonum  "  (Roundabout  Papers,  or  Har 
per's  Monthly,  March,  1860).  Burton's  "Literary  Likings." 
Mitchell's  "Bound  Together."  "Studies  of  Irving"  by 
Warner,  Bryant,  and  Putnam.  Warner's  "The  Work  of 
Washington  Irving."  Bryant's  "Orations  and  Addresses." 
Richardson's  "American  Literature."  Howells's  "My  Liter 
ary  Passions."  Saunders's  "  Character  Studies."  Lowell's 
"  Fable  for  Critics."  Library  of  the  World's  Best  Literature. 
Tlie  Critic,  March  :)],  1883  (Irving  Centenary  Number). 
Hazlitt's  "  Spirit  of  the  Age."  Jeffrey's  "  Bracebridge  Hall  " 
(Modern  British  Essayists).  Wendell's  "  Literary  History  of 
America."  Longfellow's  u  In  the  Churchyard  at  Tarry  town." 


124  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

James  Kirke  Paulding,  Irving's  relative  by  marriage 
and  partner  in  the  "  Salmagundi  "  papers,  was  born 
near  New  York,  in  1779.  His  father,  whose  house 
stood  "  within  the  lines,"  sacrificed  his  large  property 
to  the  patriot  cause.  His  education  was  obtained  in 

a  "  log  hut "  and  "  cost  first  and  last,"  he 
James  K. 

Paulding,  says,  "  about  fifteen  dollars,  certainly  quite 
as  much  as  it  was  worth."  At  nineteen  he 
became  associated  with  the  Irvings,  and  in  a  few  years 
was  successfully  engaged  with  humorous  and  satirical 
writing.  For  twelve  years  he  held  a  government 
position  at  the  port  of  New  York,  and  was  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  under  Van  Buren.  His  pleasant  home, 
"  Placentia,"  was  at  Hyde  Park  on  the  Hudson,  where 
he  died  in  1860. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  War  of  1812  Paulding  wrote 
"  The  Diverting  History  of  John  Bull  and  Brother 
Jonathan,"  a  satire  in  the  style  of  Arbuthnot,  which 
was  very  popular  in  both  countries,  and  "  The  Lay  of 
the  Scotch  Fiddle,"  a  parody  upon  Scott's  "  Lay  of 
satirical  ^ne  Last  Minstrel,"  satirizing  the  English 
works  operations  in  Chesapeake  Bay.  "  John 

Hull  in  America  "  and  "  The  Traveler's  Guide  "  were 
clever  burlesques  upon  English  ignorance  and  preju 
dice  and  the  guidebook  grandiloquence  of  the  day. 
"  Letters  from  the  South  by  a  Northern  Man  "  con 
tain  good  descriptions  of  scenery  in  the  Old  Dominion. 
In  1818  "  The  Backwoodsman  "  appeared,  a  poem  in 
six  books  and  three  thousand  verses  of  the  stereotyped 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  125 

heroic  measure ;  but  it  was  only  a  nine  days'  wonder. 
His  claim  with  posterity  as  a  poet  rests  solely  upon 
his  familiar  — 

Peter  Piper  picked  a  peck  of  pickled  peppers, 

found  in  the  novel  "  Koningsmarke,"  a  burlesque  upon 
Cooper's  "  Pioneers."  His  "  Westward  Ho  "  is  in 
teresting  as  a  picture  of  frontier  life  in  Kentucky, 
and  his  "  Life  of  Washington  "  was  excellent  in  its 
day.  The  only  book  that  still  lives  is  "  The  Dutch 
man's  Fireside,"  which  reached  a  wide  and  worthy 
fame.  Here  Paul  ding  described  the  whimsical  char 
acteristics  of  early  Dutch  times,  the  poetic  beauties  of 
the  Hudson,  the  adventurous  experiences  of  pioneer 
life,  and  the  ominous  depths  of  the  neighboring 
wilderness  with  an  affectionate  fidelity  akin  to 
Irving' s. 

Paulding  complained  in  old  age  :  "  The  world  has 
not  done  me  justice  as  an  author."  This  is  perhaps 
true,  but  his  satirical  "  whim-whams "  and  breezy 
Brother-Jonathanism  were  in  their  nature  ephemeral. 
His  writing  lacks  substance  and  the  finish  of  style 
necessary  to  permanency,  and  his  humor  is  too  gen 
erally  boisterous  and  unrefined.  He  was  always  a 
pioneer,  and  never  outgrew  the  crudeness  of  his  ex 
uberant  Americanism ;  in  this  he  is  a  contrast  to 
Irving,  who  cultivated  his  art  in  all  its  refinements 
under  the  combined  influence  of  old  England  and  new 
America. 


126  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Many  books  of  this  period  of  pioneer  authorship,  though  of 
meagre  literary  merit,  possess  a  permanent  historic  interest. 
Their  authors,  while  writing  very  indifferent  fiction,  often 
unconsciously  wrote  very  good  history  ;  and  from  the  yellow 
pages  of  these  forgotten  volumes  may  be  gathered  excellent 
material  for  the  history  of  frontier  civilization.  Wilson's 
appreciative  characterization  inclines  one  to  brush  the  dust 
from  some  of  these  old-time  favorites.  -'Miss  Sedgwick 
('  Hope  Leslie,'  'The  Linwoods')  has  given  us  many  charming 
pictures  of  primitive  customs  and  feelings  in  New  England  ; 
Descriptions  ^rs.  Kirkland  (v  A  New  Home :  Who'll  Fol- 
of  Frontier  low,'  'Forest  Life,'  'Western  Clearings')  de- 
Life  scribed  with  great  truthfulness  the  new  homes 

of  Michigan;  Judge  Hall  ('Legends  of  the  West,'  'Letters 
from  the  West ')  successfully  delineated  the  border  expe 
riences  of  Illinois;  Doctor  Bird  ('Nick  of  the  Woods')  has 
given  us  graphic  sketches  of  pioneer  life  in  Kentucky  ;  Ken 
nedy  portrayed  life  in  the  '  Old  Dominion '  ;  Simms  has 
written  many  inimitable  chapters  concerning  the  early  days 
of  the  Carol  inas ;  Judge  Longstreet  ('Georgia  Scenes')  held 
a  mirror  up  to  nature  in  his  humorous  and  graphic  Georgia 
scenes;  and  Thorpe  (-The  Hive  of  the  Bee  Hunter')  lifted 
the  veil  from  the  lodge  of  the  hunter  in  the  southwest ;  but  we 
may  safely  affirm  that  none  of  these  local  pictures  surpass 
in  minute  truthfulness  and  interest  Mr.  Paulding's  delightful 
sketches  of  colonial  life  in  New  York  during  the  days  of  the 
French  War,  as  described  in  the  'Dutchman's  Fireside.'  It 
will  not  abuse  any  man's  leisure  to  read  this  admirable  descrip 
tion  of  the  genuine  simplicity  of  life  in  New  York  a  hundred 
and  twenty-five  years  ago.  Some  of  the  old  mansions  of  the 
Schuylers  and  Van  Rensselaers  still  remain  with  iis  ;  but  the 
actors  and  customs  of  those  Doric  days,  to  use  a  favorite  phrase 
of  our  author,  have  passed  away  forever."  l 

1  James  Grant  Wilson's  "  Bryant  and  his  Friends,"  p.  141, 


in]  THE   KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  127 

WILLIAM   CULLEN   BRYANT 
1794-1878 

William  Cullen  Bryant  was  born  at  Cummington, 
Mass.,  November  3,  1794.  He  traced  his  ancestry  on 
both  sides  directly  to  the  Pilgrims  of  Plymouth.  His 
mother  was  a  descendant  of  the  famous  John  Alden, 
through  whom  he  could  claim  kinship  with  Long 
fellow;  to  her  was  due  much  of  the  lofty  integrity 
of  his  character.  To  the  father,  who  was  a  physician 
much  esteemed  for  his  learning,  he  owed  his  poetic 
impulse ;  it  was  he  who 

taught  my  youth 

The  art  of  verse,  and  in  the  bud  of  life 
Offered  me  to  the  muses. 

At  sixteen  he  entered  Williams  College,  then  an 
institution  consisting  of  a  president,  one  professor, 
and  two  tutors.  There  he  remained  but  seven  months, 
owing  to  the  limited  means  of  his  father;  he  then 
studied  law,  and  until  1825  maintained  a  successful 
practice  at  Great  Barrington. 

Bryant  began  verse-making  in  his  eighth  year,  with 
a  paraphrase  of  the  first  chapter  of  Job  and  a  poetical 
address  before  his  school.  In  his  thirteenth  year  he 
produced  a  political  satire  of  over  five  hundred  lines, 
entitled  "The  Embargo,  or  Sketches  of  the  Times," 
which  received  the  honor  of  publication.  Before  he 
was  sixteen  he  had  written  more  than  forty  pieces  of 


128  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

verse,  all  imitative  of  the  prevailing  English  models, 
and  containing  no  suggestion  of  the  qualities  that 
Early  verse-  were  soon  to  characterize  him  as  a  poet, 
making  in  jgiQ,  t}ie  vear  he  entered  college,  he 

came  upon  Wordsworth's  "  Lyrical  Ballads,"  which 
had  appeared  in  1798 ;  here  he  found  for  the  first 
time  poetic  expression  of  his  own  undefined  feeling 
for  nature.  "Upon  opening  the  book,"  he  says,  "a 
thousand  springs  seemed  to  gush  up  at  once  in  my 
heart,  and  the  face  of  nature  of  a  sudden  to  change 
into  a  strange  freshness  and  life." 

It  was  his  habit,  early  formed  and  continued  through 
life,  whenever  he  could  "  steal  £01  hour  from  study 
and  care,"  to  roam  alone  in  the  fields  and  "  pathless 
woods,"  listening  long 

To  winds  that  brought  into  their  silent  depths 
The  murmurs  of  the  mountain  waterfalls. 

With  Wordsworth  as  his  teacher  he  now  learned 
rapidly  that  "  various  language  "  of  nature,  of  which 
he  was  soon  to  give  a  sublime  interpretation.  It  was 
during  one  of  these  solitary  rambles,  in  1811,  that 
Communion  "  Thanatopsis "  was  composed,  probably 
with  Nature  ^he  grandest  poem  ever  written  by  so 
young  a  poet.  Contrary  to  his  custom,  he  did  not 
give  it  to  his  father  for  criticism,  but  hid  it  in  a  desk 
where  six  years  later  it  was  found  by  Dr.  Bryant,  and 
published  in  the  North  American  Review.  During  the 
year  1821  he  was  married  to  the  "fairest  of  the  rural 


Ill] 


THE   KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS 


129 


maids,"  wrote  his  longest  poem,  "The  Ages,"  for  a 
meeting  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  society  of  Harvard, 
and  published  his  first  collection  of  poems,  only  eight 
in  all,  but  such  poems  as  had  never  been  written  in 
America.  As 
this  little  vol 
ume  of  forty- 
four  pages  is 
one  of  the 
chief  founda 
tion-stones  in 
the  structure 
of  our  national 
literature,  it  is 
of  interest  to 
know  the  titles 
of  these  eight 
poems.  They 
are,  "The 
Ages,"  "To  a 
Waterfowl," 
"  Fragment 
from  Simoni- 
des,"  "Inscription  for  the  Entrance  to  a  Wood,"  "The 
Yellow  Violet,"  "The  Song,"  "Green  River,"  and 
"Thanatopsis."  Five  of  these  poems  represent  the 
highest  reach  of  Bryant's  genius.  The  little  book 
found  readers  even  in  England,  and  a  writer  in  Black- 
wood  graciously  admitted :  "  Bryant  is  no  mean  poet." 


William  Cullen  Bryant 


130  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Bryant  was  ill  at  ease  in  his  profession,  conscious 
of  a  perversion  of  his  poetic  nature  in  being  "  forced 
to  drudge  for  the  dregs  of  men,"  and  therefore  in  1825 
he  abandoned  the  law,  went  to  New  York  as  a  "  literary 
adventurer,"  became  editor  of  the  New  York  Review, 

and  soon  after  editor-in-chief  of  the  Even- 
Journalism 

ing  Post,  in  which   position   he   remained 

during  his  life.  As  a  journalist  he  achieved  wide 
influence  and  honor  by  the  steady  endeavor  to  lift  the 
ideals  of  politics  and  citizenship.  A  second  volume 
of  poems  was  published  in  1832,  which  was  reprinted 
in  England  through  the  kind  offices  of  Washington 
Irving,  and  won  the  reluctant  praise  of  the  English 
critics.  Wordsworth,  it  is  said,  learned  "Thana- 
topsis"  by  heart.  Henceforth  until  the  last  year  of 
his  life  new  poems  appeared  at  infrequent  intervals, 
in  which  were  always  repeated  with  new  beauties  the 
same  sublime  harmonies  of  nature  and  the  soul  with 
which  his  youth  had  been  enchanted.  He  was  an 
eager  traveler,  and  made  six  visits  to  the  Old  World, 
the  literary  fruits  of  which  were,  besides  a  few  short 
poems,  "Letters  of  a  Traveler"  and  "Letters  from 
the  East."  These,  with  a  volume  of  "Orations  and 
Addresses,"  constitute  his  prose  works. 

In  1866  occurred  the  death  of  his  wife,  who  for 
forty  years  had  been  "  the  brightness  of  his  life " ; 

this  event  is  the   theme   of   the   pathetic 
Last  Years 

poem,  "October,  1866."    Partly  as  a  means 

of  combating  this  grief  he  made  his   translation  of 


in]  THE   KNICKERBOCKER   WRITERS  131 

Homer,  which  is  probably  on  the  whole  the  best  com 
plete  metrical  version  of  the  "Iliad"  and  "Odyssey" 
in  the  language.  After  this  crowning  achievement 
his  life  passed,  as  he  had  hoped,  "  in  long  serenity 
away."  Always  an  active  supporter  of  public  move 
ments  for  promoting  art,  literature,  or  benevolence,  he 
was  frequently  called  by  his  fellow-citizens  to  assume 
the  chief  honor  at  pnblic  festivals.  While  performing 
such  a  duty,  the  delivery  of  an  address  at  the  unveil 
ing  of  a  statue  to  Mazzini  in  Central  Park,  he  was 
stricken  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  died  a  few  days 
later,  June  12,  1878.  The  end  came,  as  he  had  fanci 
fully  wished  fifty -three  years  before,  "in  flowery 
June."  the  season  of 

Soft  airs,  and  song,  and  light,  and  bloom. 

Bryant  is  a  poet  of  narrow  limitations,  both  in  the 
scope  and  variety  of  themes,  and  in  the  methods  of 
treatment,  but  within  his  limitations  he  is  a  master. 
Although  often  urged  by  his  friends  to  write  a  long 
poem,  something  large  like  an  epic  or  drama,  he  was 
never  tempted  into  these  broader  and  more  alluring 
fields.  His  poems  are  all  short,  their  average  length 
being  only  seventy -five  lines ;  the  volume  of  his 
work  is  small,  only  about  two  hundred  poems  in 
all ;  and  the  whole  is  characterized  by  a  uniform 
excellence  that  evinces  the  constant  exercise  of  ar 
tistic  restraint.  There  was  no  expansion  of  his 
genius,  the  tone  and  quality  of  his  poetry  did  not 


132  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

change;  in  "The  Flood  of  Years,"  written  in  his 
eighty-second  year,  the  solemn  cadences  of  "  Thana- 
topsis  "  were  repeated.  His  thought  dwells  habitually 
upon  the  sublimity  of  nature,  and  its  relations  to  the 
transitory  life  of  man.  Nearly  three  fourths  of  his 
poems  are  direct  suggestions  from  nature.  To  her 
shrine  he  would  retreat  whenever  from  the  turmoil 
of  the  business  world  he  sought  relief  in  the  solemn 

services  of  song. 

While  I  stood 

In  Nature's  loveliness,  I  was  with  one 
With  whom  I  early  grew  familiar,  —  one 
Who  never  had  a  frown  for  me,  whose  voice 
Never  rebuked  me  for  the  hour  I  stole 
From  cares  I  loved  not,  but  of  which  the  world 
Deems  highest,  to  converse  with  her. 

He  has  been  called  the  "  American  Wordsworth,"  but 
the  epithet  is  only  measurably  correct ;  the  two  poets 
Poetic  worship  in  the  same  temple,  but  each  in  a 

Qualities  manner  quite  his  own.  Stedmaii  better 
calls  him  "  a  philosophic  minstrel  of  the  woods  and 
waters,  the  foremost  of  American  landscape  poets." 
Simplicity  is  the  most  obvious  quality  of  his  work,  a 
simplicity  made  impressive  by  perfection  of  work 
manship.  His  thoughts  are  common,  and  the  subjects 
of  his  meditations  familiar,  but  in  his  treatment  the 
universal  experiences  of  life,  death,  and  nature  be 
come  profound.  The  attitude  of  his  thought  is  one 
of  calm,  austere  resignation,  like  the  "  steady  gaze  " 
of  his  North  star  in  its  "  cold  skies."  Compare  "  To 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  133 

a  Waterfowl  "  with  Shelley's  "  Skylark  "  ;  the  one  is 
tranquil  contemplation,  the  other  is  restless,  passion 
ate  aspiration.  There  is  no  rapture  in  his  song,  no 
swift  ecstasy  of  ideal  delight.  Nature  to  him  is  a 
stately  cathedral,  in  the  cool  depths  of  whose  aisles 
he  meditates  his  deep-voiced  harmonies.  Now  and 
then  his  fancy  could  be  happily  playful,  as  in  the 
"  Planting  of  the  Apple  Tree,"  and  the  "  AVind  and 
Stream " ;  and  upon  the  commonest  flowers  of  the 
woods  his  best  lyric  gift  was  bestowed.  He  is  the 
poet  of  the  "  Yellow  Violet "  and  the  "  Fringed  Gen 
tian,"  as  Emerson  is  the  poet  of  the  "  Rhodora,"  and 
he  knew  as  only  a  poet  can  know 

All  the  flowers 

That  tuft  the  woodland  floor,  or  overarch 
The  streamlet. 

His  language  is  simple  Saxon  speech,  used  with  its 
best  grace,  beauty,  and  strength.  His  verse,  always 
technically  correct,  flows  as  smoothly  and  musically 
as  the  pebbly  brooks  he  loved,  and  always 

Pure  as  the  dew  that  filters  through  the  rose. 

Two  verse  forms  were  his  favorites,  the  iambic  qua 
train  in  eight-syllabled  lines,  as  in  "  A  Day  Dream," 
occasionally  varied  as  in  "Autumn  Woods,"  Bryant's 
and    blank    verse,  in   which  he   achieved  Blank  verse 
his   masterpieces;    only  in   the   latter  was   he  truly 
original. 


134  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

The  hills 

Rock-ribbed  and  ancient  as  the  sun  ;  the  vales 
Stretching  in  pensive  quietness  between  ; 
The  venerable  woods  ;  rivers  that  move 
In  majesty,  and  the  complaining  brooks 
That  make  the  meadows  green;  and,  poured  round  all, 
Old  ocean's  gray  and  melancholy  waste,  — 
Are  but  the  solemn  decorations  all 
Of  the  great  tomb  of  man. 

This  is  magnificent  harmony;  thought,  words,  and 
music  are  in  perfect  accord.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
bring  Milton  and  Wordsworth  into  the  comparison  to 
perceive  the  lofty  distinction  of  such  verse  as  that  of 
"  Thanatopsis,"  "  A  Forest  Hymn,"  and  "  The  Flood 
of  Years."  Of  his  blank  verse  Stedman  says :  "  The 
essence  of  its  cadence,  pauses,  rhythm,  should  be 
termed  American,  and  it  is  the  best  ever  written  in  the 
New  World.  Blank  verse  is  the  easiest  and  the  most 
difficult  of  all  measures  ;  the  poorest  in  poor  hands ; 
the  finest  when  written  by  a  true  poet.  Whoever 
essays  it  is  a  poet  disrobed ;  he  must  rely  upon  his 
natural  gifts ;  his  defects  cannot  be  hidden.  In  this 
measure  Bryant  was  at  his  height,  and  he  owes  to  it 
the  most  enduring  portion  of  his  fame.  However 
narrow  his  range,  we  must  own  that  he  was  first  in 
the  first.  He  reached  the  upper  air  at  once  in  { Than 
atopsis,'  and  again  and  again,  though  none  too  fre 
quently,  he  renewed  his  flights,  and,  like  his  own 
waterfowl,  pursued  his  '  solitary  way.'  ' 

In  view  of  the  prevailing  influence  of  the  conven- 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  135 

tional  eighteenth-century  poetry,  it  is  somewhat 
surprising  that  Bryant,  even  with  the  aid  of  Words 
worth,  broke  away  so  boldly  from  the  school  of  Pope. 
There  are  traces  of  English  influence  in  his  work; 
even  "  Thanatopsis "  owes  something  to  so  crude  a 
poem  as  Blair's  "  Grave."  But  the  little  Bryant's 
volume  of  1821  and  its  companions  of  Americanism 
1832  and  1836  are  quite  as  indicative  of  an  awakened 
spirit  of  literary  independence  as  Emerson's  "  Amer 
ican  Scholar."  Bryant  discovered  poetry  in  the  se 
vere  aspects  of  his  New  England  surroundings,  and 
became  at  once  original  and  American.  "He  is  orig 
inal  because  he  is  sincere,"  said  Emerson,  "a  true 
painter  of  the  face  of  the  country  and  of  the  senti 
ment  of  his  own  people.  It  is  his  proper  praise  that 
he  first,  and  he  only,  made  known  to  mankind  our 
northern  landscape,  its  summer  splendor,  its  autumn 
russet,  its  winter  lights  and  glooms."  Curtis  re 
garded  his  poetry  as  "intensely  and  distinctively 
American.  He  was  a  man  of  scholarly  accomplish 
ments,  familiar  with  other  languages  and  literature. 
But  there  is  no  tone  or  taste  of  anything  not  pecul 
iarly  American  in  his  poetry.  It  is  as  characteristic 
as  the  wine  of  the  Catawba  grape." 

In  a  final  summary  of  his  qualities,  Curtis  says : 
"  The  genius  of  Bryant,  not  profuse  and  imperial, 
neither  intense  with  dramatic  passion  nor  throbbing 
with  lyrical  fervor,  but  calm,  meditative,  pure,  has  its 
true  symbol  among  his  native  hills,  a  mountain 


136  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

spring  untainted  by  mineral  or  slime  of  earth  or  rep 
tile  venom,  cool,  limpid,  and  serene.  His  verse  is  the 
Curtis's  virile  expression  of  the  healthy  commun- 
Estimate  jon  Of  a  strong,  sound  man  with  the  famil 
iar  aspects  of  nature,  and  its  broad,  clear,  open-air 
quality  has  a  certain  Homeric  suggestiveness.  It  is 
not  the  poetry  of  an  eager  enthusiasm  ;  it  is  not  fas 
cinating  and  overpowering  to  the  sensibility  of  youth. 
It  is  the  essentially  meditative  character  which  makes 
the  atmosphere  of  his  poetic  world  more  striking  than 
its  forms ;  and  thus  his  contribution  of  memorable 
lines  to  our  literature  is  not  great,  although  there  are 
some  lines  of  unsurpassed  majesty,  and  again  touches 
of  fancy  and  imagination  as  airy  and  delicate  as  the 
dance  of  fairies  upon  a  moonlit  lawn." 

Class  Study.  —  Thanatopsis  ;  To  a  Waterfowl :  Autumn 
Woods  ;  Evening  Wind  ;  Hymn  to  the  North  Star  ;  Inscription 
for  the  Entrance  to  a  Wood ;  The  Death  of  the  Flowers ;  The 
Past ;  Robert  of  Lincoln ;  To  the  Fringed  Gentian  ;  The  Planting 
of  the  Apple  Tree  ;  Our  Fellow  Worshipers  ;  The  West  Wind ; 
The  Wind  and  Stream  ;  A  Forest  Hymn. 

Class  Reading. — June;  Hymn  to  Death;  The  Land  of 
Dreams ;  Song  of  Marion's  Men  ;  The  Crowded  Street ;  The 
Antiquity  of  Freedom ;  "  Oh  Mother  of  a  Mighty  Race  "  ;  A 
Day  Dream ;  Life ;  The  Stream  of  Life  ;  The  Little  People 
of  the  Snow;  The  Snow  Shower;  "Oh  Fairest  of  the  Rural 
Maids  "  ;  October;  The  Battle  Field  ;  The  Song  of  the  Sower  ; 
The  Flood  of  Years. 

Biography  and  Criticism. — Godwin's  "Life  of  William. 
Cullen  Bryant."  Bigelow's  "  William  Cullen  jJryant "  (Amer 
ican  Men  of  Letters).  Symington's  "  William  Cullen  Bryant." 
Hill's  "Life  of  William  Cullen  Bryant.''  Wilson's  "Bryant 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER   WRITERS  137 

VIA.  c*.Ci\.    .-{  ;,  ,s 

and  his  Friends."  Stedman's  "Poets  of  America.'"  Whip- 
pie's  "Literature  and  Life."  Curtis's  "Orations  and  Ad 
dresses,"  Vol.  III.  Richardson's  "American  Literature." 
Wilkinson's  "A  Free  Lance  in  the  Field  of  Life  and  Let 
ters."  Wendell's  "Literary  History  of  America."  Lowell's 
"Fable  for  Critics."  Saunders's  "  Character  Studies."  God 
win's  "Out  of  the  Past."  Deshler's  "Afternoons  with  the 
Poets." 

Poets'  Tributes.  —  Stoddard's  "The  Dead  Master,"  "  Vates 
Patriae,''  and  "At  RosTyli."  Holmes's  "  Bryant's  Seventieth 
Birthday."  Lowell's  "  On  Board  the  70."  Whittier!s.  "  Bry 
ant  on  his  Birthday."  Taylor's  "  Epicedium "  and  "Chant 
for  the  Bryant  Festival."  Julia  Ward  Howe's  "  A  Leaf  from 
the  Bryant  Chaplet."  Stedinan's  "The  Death  of  Bryant," 


HALLECK,  DRAKE,  AND  DANA 

Fitz-Greene  Halleck  was  Lorn  in  Guilford,  Conn., 
in  1790.  He  began  rhyming,  we  are  told,  as  soon  as 
lie  had  learned  to  write.  "  He  couldn't  help  it,''  said 
a  schoolmate.  At  fifteen  he  became  a  bookkeeper  in 
one  of  the  village  stores,  and  at  twenty-one  found 
employment  in  a  New  York  banking  house.  For 

sixteen  years  he  was  in  the  office  of  John  T 

J  Fitz-Greene 

Jacob  Astor,  who  at   his  death,  in  1848,   Haiieck, 
left    him    an    annuity    of    some    "  forty   I79<> 
pounds  a  year."      Upon   this   modest  fortune  he  re 
tired  to  his  native  town,  where  he  died,  in  1867.    A 
fine  monument  was  erected  over  his  grave  and  dedi 
cated  upon  the  eightieth  anniversary  of  his  birth,  the 
first  honor  of  the  kind  ever  bestowed  upon  the  memory 
of  an  American  poet. 


138  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

It  may  be  doubtful  whether  Halleck's  name  is 

One  of  the  few,  the  immortal  names 
That  were  not  born  to  die, 

but  the  poem  that  closes  with  these  lines,  "  Marco 
Bozzaris,"  is  likely  long  to  hold  a  place  of  honor  in 
our  literature.  In  1822  a  visit  to  Europe  inspired 
"  Alnwick  Castle  "  and  "  Burns,"  and  in  1827  the  first 
collection  of  his  poems  was  published.  Halleck  and 
Drake  were  devoted  friends,  "  the  Damon  and  Pythias 
of  American  poets  " ;  in  1819  they  wrote  together  the 
"  Croaker  Papers,"  humorous  and  satirical  poems  upon 
the  men  and  manners  of  New  York  society,  published 
in  the  Evening  Post  and  signed  "Croaker  &  Co." 
These  bright  but  flashy  papers  delighted  the  town 
for  a  time  with  their  novel  and  witty  rhymes  and  then 
were  quickly  forgotten.  No  elegy  is  more  deservedly 
popular  than  the  simple  and  tender  poem  "  On  the 
Death  of  Drake,"  beginning  :  — 

Green  be  the  turf  above  thee, 

Friend  of  my  better  days  ! 
None  knew  thee  but  to  love  thee, 

Nor  named  thee  but  to  praise. 

The  generous  praises  bestowed  upon  Halleck  are 
somewhat  out  of  proportion  to  his  real  merits ;  but 
there  was  that  humane  and  sympathetic  "  touch  of 
nature "  in  the  man  and  his  verses  that  "  makes  the 
whole  world  kin."  His  friend  Joseph  Rodman  Drake, 
though  a  much  less  popular  favorite,  was  a  much 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  139 

finer  poet.  He  was  born  in  New  York  in  1795. 
When  five  years  old,  it  is  said,  he  wrote  conundrums 
in  verse,  and  promising  poems  at  ten.  He 
studied  medicine  and  became  a  druggist,  man  Drake, 
At  twenty-one  lie  wrote  "The  Culprit  I795'l82° 
Fay,"  upon  which  his  reputation  chiefly  rests.  In  a 
discussion  with  Cooper,  Halleck,  and  others,  it  was 
maintained  that  American  streams  furnish  no  such 
possibilities  of  poetry  as  the  legend-haunted  streams 
of  Scotland;  Drake  dissented,  and  to  support  his 
position,  in  three  days  produced  his  exquisite  poem 
with  its  scene  laid  in  the  Highlands  of  the  Hudson. 
It  is  a  dainty  fairy  tale,  told  in  melodious  verse,  with 
airy  gracefulness  of  scene  and  imagery.  Halleck  pro 
nounced  it  "  the  best  thing  of  the  kind  in  the  English 
language."  His  stirring  lyric,  "  The  American  Flag," 
is  "certainly,"  says  Beers,  "the  most  spirited  thing  of 
the  kind  in  our  poetic  literature."  The  early  death  of 
Drake  was  a  serious  loss  to  our  literature,  for  there 
was  great  promise  in  what  he  did.  His  fine-souled, 
poetic  nature  drew  to  itself  strong  attachments. 
"  There  will  be  less  sunshine  for  me  hereafter,"  said 
Halleck,  "now  that  Joe  is  gone." 

In  1825,  in  the  first  number  of  the  New  York  Review, 
edited  by  Bryant,  Eichard  Henry  Dana's  earliest 
poem,  "  The  Dying  Raven,"  appeared  in  company  with 
"  Marco  Bozzaris."  Dana  was  born  in  Boston  in  1787, 
and  died  in  1879.  Born  with  the  Constitution  and 
before  Byron,  Keats,  and  Shelley,  he  lived  through 


140  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

the  administration  of  Grant  and  saw  the  best  work  of 
Tennyson  completed.  He  spent  three  years  at 
Harvard,  practiced  law  for  a  few  years,  was  one  of  the 
founders  and  editors  of  the  North  American  Review, 
took  part  in  the  bitter  Unitarian  controversy  against 
Richard  ^s  cousin,  Dr.  Channing,  but  led  mainly 

Henry  Dana,  the  meditative  life  of  a  literary  recluse.  In 
1821  he  began  publishing  The  Idle  Man 
in  New  York,  a  periodical  of  essays  much  like  the 
"  Sketch  Book,"  to  which  Bryant  and  Allston  con 
tributed  poems.  It  was  too  refined  to  be  successful, 
and  only  seven  numbers  appeared.  In  1827  his  little 
volume,  "  The  Buccaneer,  and  Other  Poems,"  appeared. 
A.  course  of  lectures  on  Shakspere,  given  in  several 
cities  in  1839,  the  Shaksperian  scholar,  Yerplanck, 
thought  "  should  be  cherished  as  among  the  finest 
fruits  of  American  scholarship,  genius,  and  critical 
ability." 

Dana  was  a  poet  by  right  of  descent  from  Anne 
Bradstreet,  as  well  as  by  inherent  gifts.  But  his 
muse  was  too  grave  and  contemplative  to  be  popular. 
A  few  delicate  lyrics  like  "The  Little  Beach  Bird" 
have  a  permanent  beauty.  "  The  Buccaneer,"  though 
containing  passages  of  fine  poetry,  is  too  severe  in 
both  style  and  feeling,  lacking  the  simplicity  and 
fluency  of  Coleridge's  "  Ancient  Mariner,"  by  which  it 
was  inspired.  Dana  once  remarked  that  for  the 
literary  work  of  thirty  years  he  had  received  "less  than 
four  hundred  dollars.''  His  influence,  as  poet  and 


mj  THE   KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  141 

critic,  was  exerted  chiefly  in  giving  to  his  fellow- 
authors  lessons  of  taste  and  independence.  For  this 
he  deserves  to  remain  "  one  of  the  prominences  of  our 
literature." 

The  united  achievement  of  these  three  poets  was 
meager  in  amount,  but  each  produced  something  that 
still  lives,  enough  to  show  that  they  had  caught  a 
spark  at  least  of  the  divine  fire,  and  had  felt  its  glow. 
The  poets  of  the  Revolutionary  group  were  poets  only 
by  virtue  of  their  patriotic  energy  and 
patient  imitation  of  poor  models.  Halleck  the  Pioneer 
and  his  friends  made  a  long  stride  toward 
original  and  self-reliant  poetry.  The  Romantic  School 
in  England  inspired,  but  did  not  dominate,  them. 
Dana  was  attracted  to  Coleridge ;  in  Halleck's  poems 
there  were  echoes  of  Byron;  Drake  wished  that  he 
might  "lie  stretched  upon  a  rainbow  with  Tom  Camp 
bell  in  his  hand."  In  Bryant's  early  poetry  and 
Dana's  prose  criticism,  Wordsworth's  sublime  mes 
sage  was  first  clearly  reported  in  the  New  World. 

"The  poetic  literature  of  a  land,"  wrote  Bayard 
Taylor,  "is  the  finer  and  purer  ether  above  its  mate 
rial  growth  and  the  vicissitudes  of  its  history.  Where 
it  was  vacant  and  barren  for  us,  except,  perchance, 
a  feeble  lark-note  here  and  there,  Dana,  Halleck,  and 
Bryant  rose  together  on  steadier  wings,  and  gave 
voices  to  the  solitude  —  Dana  with  a  broad,  grave 
undertone,  like  that  of  the  sea ;  Bryant  with  a  sound 
as  of  the  wind  in  summer  woods,  and  the  fall  of 


142  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

waters  in  mountain-dells ;  and  Halleck  with  strains 
blown  from  a  silver  trumpet,  breathing  manly  fire 
and  courage.  Many  voices  have  followed  theirs ;  the 
ether  rings  with  new  melodies ;  but  we  shall  not  for 
get  the  forerunners  who  rose  in  advance  of  their  wel 
come,  and  created  their  own  audience  by  their  songs." 

Class  Reading.  —  Halleck's  "Marco  Bozzaris'1;  "On  the 
Death  of  Drake  "  ;  "  Burns  "  ;  "  Alnwick  Castle  "  ;  "  Connecti 
cut."  Drake's  "American  Flag  "  ;  "  The  Culprit  Fay."  Dana's 
"The  Little  Beach  Bird"  ;  "The  Moss  Supplicateth  f  or  the  Poet." 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Bryant's  "Orations  and  Ad 
dresses"  (Halleck).  Wilson's  "Life  of  Halleck"  and  "Bryant 
and  his  Friends."  Taylor's  "Essays  and  Notes."  Whipple's 
"  Essays  and  Reviews,"  Vol.  II  (Dana).  Atlantic  Monthly, 
June,  1877  (Halleck).  Poe's  "  Literati."  Lowell's  "  Fable  for 
Critics."  Whittier's  "Fitz-Greene  Halleck." 

Some  of  the  minor  writers  of  the  Knickerbocker  group  are 
remembered  only  through  single  famous  pieces.  Samuel  Wood- 
worth  (1785-1842),  a  journalist  and  writer  of  patriotic  songs 
and  odes  during  the  War  of  1812,  is  known  only  by  his 
"Old  Oaken  Bucket."  James  Fenno  Hoffman  (1806-1884), 
founder  of  the  Knickerbocker  Magazine,  wrote  "  Sparkling  and 
Bright"  and  the  spirited  "  Monterey."  George  Perkins  Mor 
ris  (1802-1864),  editor,  with  Willis,  of  the  Mirror  and  the 
Home  Journal,  a  lesser  Tom  Moore  in  his  day,  whose  songs 
were  universally  admired,  is  now  remembered  as 

™?™l  the    author    of    "Woodman,    Spare   that   Tree." 

Members  of 

the  Choir  John  Howard  Payne  (1791-1852)  was  a  success 
ful  actor  and  playwright.  During  a  wandering 
life  in  Europe  he  wrote  numerous  dramatic  pieces,  in  one  of 
which,  "  Clari."  an  opera,  appeared  the  immortal  "Home, 
Sweet  Home,"  which,  it  is  said,  made  the  fortune  of  every  one 
connected  with  it  except  the  author.  The  song  was  written  in 


m]  THE   KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  143 

a  room  in  the  Palais  Royal,  Paris.  After  his  thirteenth  year 
the  author  never  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  home,  of  which  he 
sang  with  such  sweet  pathos.  He  died  at  Tunis,  Africa,  and 
his  ashes  now  rest  in  Oak  Hill  Cemetery,  Washington,  beneath 
a  noble  monument.  Gulian  Crommelin  Verplanck  (1786-1870) 
was  the  scholarly  editor  of  Shakspere  and  friend  of  Bryant,  with 
whom  he  was  associated  in  editing  "  The  Talisman,"  an  annual 
that  enjoyed  a  sunny  nook  in  that  period  of  our  literature. 
Alfred  Billings  Street  (1811-1881),  author  of  "  Frontenac,"  was 
praised  by  Longfellow,  Bryant,  and  Whipple  for  the  fidelity 
and  vividness  of  his  descriptions  of  nature.  Henry  Theodore 
Tuckerman  (181-3-1871),  a  pleasant  essayist,  was  the  author  of 
'•  Characteristics  of  Literature,"  "  Thoughts  on  the  Poets,"  and 
many  other  volumes  of  sketches  and  poems. 

Several  Connecticut  poets  of  this  period  reached  a  fame 
through  the  "  Annuals"  and  the  New  York  journals  that  was 
once  received  as  evidence  of  genius.  John  Pierpont  (1785-18(56), 
poet,  preacher,  and  philanthropist,  and  chaplain  in  the  Civil 
War  at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  gave  us  the  sturdy  "  Warren's 
Address,"  and  the  meritorious  "Passing  Away,"  "Pilgrim 
Fathers,"  and  "  My  Child."  James  Abraham  Hillhouse  (1789- 
1841)  was  one  of  the  earliest  poets  in  America  to  write  a  poetic 
drama.  In  1839  he  published  "  Dramas,  Discourses,  and  Other 
Pieces,"  in  which  the  influence  of  Byron  is  easily  traced. 
James  Gates  Percival  (1795-1857),  physician,  geologist,  and 
linguist,  was  once  assumed  to  be  a  great  poet  by  virtue  of 
profuse  rhyming.  "He  is  pertinaciously  and  unappeasedly 
dull,"  says  Lowell,  "he  never  in  his  life  wrote  a  remember- 
able  verse."  A  few  short  pieces,  however,  as  "To  Seneca 
Lake,"  and  "The  Coral  Grove,"  are  still  familiar  and  of 
worth.  Lydia  Huntley  Sigourney  (1791-1865)  wrote  verse  and 
prose  to  the  extent  of  fifty-six  volumes.  Her  blank  verse, 
studied  after  Bryant,  is  not  without  merit,  as  in  "Niagara." 
The  principle  of  her  literary  work  was,  she  says,  "  to  aim  at 
being  an  instrument  of  good,"  and  this  aim  she  undoubtedly 
realized. 

Among  these  "  gentle  stars  of  the  East  "  there  were  in  Bos- 


144  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

ton,  besides  Dana,  Charles  Sprague  (1791-1875),  a  prominent 
banker,  whose  "Shakspere  Ode,"  "The  Winged  Worshipers," 
and  "Ode  to  Art"  have  had  a  wide  reading-book  celebrity; 
Washington  Allston  (1779-1843),  one  of  the  earliest  propaga 
tors  of  culture  in  America,  esteemed  as  "  the  greatest  of  Ameri 
can  painters,"  a  graceful  versifier,  lecturer  on  art,  and  author 
of  the  romance  "Monaldi,"  which  Whipple  thinks  deserves  a 
"permanent  place  in  our  literature"  ;  and  Epes  Sargent  (1813- 
1880),  an  author  and  compiler  of  many  books,  who  will  be 
remembered  for  the  song,  "A  Life  on  the  Ocean  Wave." 
Maria  Brooks  (1795-1845)  published  in  Boston,  in  1825,  "  Zo- 
phiel ;  or,  the  Bride  of  Seven,"  on  the  strength  of  which  the 
poet  Southey  pronounced  her  "the  most  impassioned  and 
most  imaginative  of  all  poetesses."  This  highly  colored  East 
ern  romance,  in  its  theme  similar  to  Moore's  "Loves  of  the 
Angels,"  founded  on  a  story  in  the  Apocryphal  book  of  Tobit, 
is  an  interesting  but  decadent  product  of  the  English  romantic 
school.  Many  other  minor  singers  there  were  in  this  period, 
whose  rushlight  fame,  bright  for  a  little  time,  has  disappeared 
in  dusky  oblivion.  The  memory  of  one  of  these,  however, 
Samuel  Francis  Smith  (1808-1895),  will  be  kept  green,  for  in 
1832  he  wrote  our  one  fine  national  hymn,  "  America." 


JAMES  FENIMORE   COOPER 
1789-1851 

The  beautiful  village  of  Cooperstown,  New  York, 
one  hundred  years  ago  was  a  small  settlement  upon 
the  very  borderland  of  American  civilization.  Beyond 
stretched  vast,  unexplored  forests  that  echoed  the 
sounds  of  Indians  and  wild  animals  still  undisturbed 
by  the  white  man's  gun.  Here  James  Femmore 
Cooper  spent  his  boyhood,  feeding  his  imagination 


Ill] 


THE    KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS 


145 


with  the  beauty  and  mystery  of  the  primeval  wilder 
ness  and  laying  in  rich  stores  of  romantic  experience 
to  be  used  later  in  those  remarkable  forest  tales  that 
still  captivate  each  succeeding  generation  of  young 
readers  in  all  parts  of  the  globe. 

Cooper  was  born  in  Biir_ling£oji,  New  Jersey,  Sep 
tember  15,  1789.  The  following  year  his  father 
removed  to  his  large  es 
tates  on  the  shores  of 
Otsego  lake,  and  became 
the  founder  and  leading 
citizen  of  the  town  named 
in  his  honor.  A  remiTU^; 
cence  of  his  manorial  emi 
nence  is  preserved  in  the 
character  of  "  Judge  Tem 
ple"  in  "The  Pioneers." 
James  entered  Yale  Col 
lege  at  thirteen,  was  dis 
missed  during  the  third 
year  for  misconduct,  and  Jameg  Fenimore  Cooper 
in  1806  entered  the  navy, 

serving  at  first  as  a  common  sailor  and  reaching  finally 
the  rank  of  lieutenant.  For  a  time  he 

~  Early  Years 

was  stationed  at  Oswego,  then  a  few  rude 
houses  in  the  wilderness,  and  there  became  ( familiar 
with   the   scenes    so  vividly  pictured  in  "  The  Path 
finder."  ,    His  naval  career  was  cut  short  by  marriage 
in  18JJ.,  after  which  for  several  years  he  lived  in  the 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

vicinity  of  New  York  city,  his  unsettled  pursuits  and 
tastes  giving  no  intimation  of  his  future  work. 

His  career  of  authorship  began  in  a  trifling  inci 
dent.  While  reading  a  novel  to  his  wife  he  remarked 
that  he  believed  he  could  write  a  better  novel  himself ; 
urged  to  the  proof,  he  soon  produced  his  first  Avork, 
Beginning  of  "Precaution,''  published  in  1820.  It  was 
Authorship  a  sentimental  story  in  imitation  of  the 
fashionable  English  novel  of  the  period,  dealing  with 
English  society  life  of  which  the  writer  was  entirely 
ignorant,  and  worthless  as  a  work  of  art ;  but  its 
reception  by  his  friends  and  the  public  encouraged 
him  to  a  second  trial.  Accordingly  in  1821 — the 
year  which  saw  Bryant's  first  volume  of  poems  —  "The 
Spy,"  a  tale  of  the  Revolution,  •  appeared.  This 
met  with  instantaneous  success,  in  Europe  as  well 
as  at  home,  and  established  the  author's  reputa 
tion.  He  had  found  his  talent,  and  from  an  amateur 
farmer  he  was  suddenly  transformed  into  a  famous 
author. 

Cooper's  genius  was  limited  to  two  sources  of  in 
spiration,  his  early  familiarity  with  frontier  life  and 
his  experience  on  the  ocean.  With  the  exception  of 
"The  Spy,"  and  parts  of  one  or  two  other  historical 
stories,  his  books  made  from  other  material  than 
these  romantic  and  cherished  associations  are  com- 
sourcesof  paratively  worthless.  In  1823  he  published 
inspiration  «  The  pioneers,"  the  first  of  the  "  Leather 
Stocking "  series,  in  which  the  scenery  of  his  early 


mj  THE    KNICKERBOCKER   WRITERS  147 

home  is  described  with  a  fullness  and  fondness  that 
somewhat  injure  it  as  a  story.  He  wrote  it  "to 
please  himself,"  he  says;  but  the  public  received  it 
with  unbounded  enthusiasm.  Thackeray  pronounced 
"  Leather  Stocking  "  to  be  "  the  great  prize-man  of  fic- 
-  ftion."  Equal  success  the  next  year  attended  " The 
Pilot,''  through  which  Cooper  became  the  creator  of 

r* 

the  sea  novel,  a  department  of  fiction  in  which  he  has 
had  hosts  of  imitators,  but  hardly  an  equal,  and  no 
superior.  The  leading  figure  of  this  novel  he  drew 
from  the  famous  Revolutionary  hero,  John  Paul  Jones. 
This  was  followed  by  "Lionel  Lincoln,"  dealing  with 
New  England  life  and  scenes  at  the  opening  of  the 
Revolution,  and  "  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans,"  one  of 
his  Indian  masterpieces. 

1  n  U32G  he  went  to  Europe,  where  he  resided  seven 
years,  mainly  in  France  and  Italy.  During  this 
period  he  wrote  "The  Prairie,"  the  most  poetical 
of  the  "Leather  Stocking"  tales,  "Red  Foreign 
Rover,"  the  finest  of  the  sea  tales,  "  Wept  Residence 
of  Wish-ton- Wish,"  a  story  of  the  New  Englanders' 
struggles  with  the  Indians,  and  "  The  Water  Witch  "  ; 
also  "The  Bravo,"  a  story  of  Venice,  and  two  other 
stories  of  little  value,  dealing  with  European  politics 
and  exalting  the  virtues  of  democracy,  and  a  book 
entitled  "  Notions  of  the  Americans,"  intended  to 
combat  the  ignorance  and  prejudice  concerning  this 
country,  Avhich  everywhere,  especially  in  England, 
offended  his  sensitive  Americanism.  This  patriotic 


148  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

attempt  succeeded,  however,  only  in  making  enemies 
for  the  author  on  both  sides  of  the  water. 

Cooper  now  divided  the  honors  of  American  author 
ship  with  Washington  Irving.  His  books  sold  in 
numbers  that  would  be  astonishing  even  to-day  with 
a  vastly  increased  reading  public.  They  were  pub 
lished  simultaneously  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, 

and   translated   immediately  into   all   the 
Popularity 

cultivated  languages  of  Europe.     Of  all  the 

books  of  other  American  authors  only  "  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin"  ever  reached  so  wide  a  celebrity.  His  plots 
were  dramatized  for  the  stage  and  his  scenes  put  upon 
canvas  by  the  painters.  No  author,  except  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  approached  him  in  popularity.  In  1833  Morse, 
the  inventor  of  the  telegraph,  wrote :  "  In  every  city 
of  Europe  that  I  visited,  the  works  of  Cooper  were 
conspicuously  placed  in  the  windows  of  every  book 
shop.  They  are  published  as  soon  as  he  produces 
them  in  thirty-four  different  places  in  Europe.  They 
have  been  seen  by  American  travelers  in  the  lan 
guages  of  Turkey  and  Persia,  in  Constantinople,  in 
Egypt,  at  Jerusalem,  at  Ispahan." 

Soon  after  his  return  to  America  he  settled  in  his 

old  home,  "  Otsegp_Hall,"  where  he  spent  the  remainder 

of  his  life.     Several  volumes  of  European  travel  now 

appeared,  and  the  valuable  "History  of  the  United 

States  Navy,"  and  "Lives  of  Distinguisheil 

American  Naval  Officers."    His  productive 

energy  was   marvelousj    in  all,  he  wrote  nearly  one 


in]  THE   KNICKERBOCKER   WRITERS  149 

hundred  volumes.  Between  1840  and  1850  he  produced 
seventeen  works  of  fiction,  the  best  of  which  are  "  The 
Deerslayer  "  and  "  The  Pathfinder,"  two  of  the  finest 
products  of  his  genius.  These  completed  the  series  of 
"  Leather  Stocking  "  tales.  Of  the  other  novels  of  this 
period  the  most  noteworthy  are  "The  Two  Admirals,'' 
a  story  of  the  British  navy  in  the  colonial  period, 
"  Mercedes  of  Castile,"  in  which  the  story  of  Columbus 
is  worked  over  with  indifferent  success,  "  Wyandotte," 
a  dull  tale  of  the  Revolution,  and  two  interesting 
stories  dealing  with  early  New  York  history,  "The 
Chainbearer"  and  "Satanstoe."  All  that  he  wrote 
after  the  appearance  of  these  books  added  nothing  to 
his  fame  as  an  author,  but  he  continued  to  pour  forth 
fiction  with  unabated  zeal  until  the  last  year  of  life. 
For  many  years  Cooper  was  involved  in  a  bitter  con 
troversy  with  the  press,  the  history  of  which  must 
always  remain  a  disgraceful  stain  upon  the  fame  of 
American  journalism.  In  a  series  of  satirical  novels, 
particularly  "  Homeward  Bound "  and  "  Home  as 
Found,"  he  attempted  to  improve  the  manners  of  his 
countrymen,  whose  general  crudeness  was  an  unpleasant 
contrast  to  the  grace,  culture,  and  dignity  of  the  Old 
World.  There  was  much  truth  in  what  he  said,  but 
much  offense  in  the  manner  of  saying  it: 

Controversy 

he  lacked  the  humor  necessary  to  make  his  with  the 
instruction  palatable.     Critics  resented  his 
satire,  impugned  his  motives,  and  basely  assailed  his 
character.    As  fearless  a  fighter  as  any  of  his  heroes,  he 


150  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

carried  on  the  contest  single-handed,  through  innumer 
able  libel  suits,  to  final  triumph.  But  it  was  a  barren 
victory,  merely  proving  him  to  be  the  best  hater  and 
most  thoroughly  hated  man  of  letters  in  America.-/'  Per 
sonally,  Cooper  was  a  man  of  generous  and  sincere  nature, 
moved  by  the  loftiest  moral  virtues,  and  in  private  life 
enjoying  the  devoted  affection  of  family  and  friends. 
He  loved  justice,  nobility  of  lifej  and  personal  inde 
pendence,  and  more  than  all  he  loved  his  country ;  his 
patriotism  was  not  a  sentiment,  but  a  passion.  But 
he  was  a  man  of  tenacious  prejudices,  exceedingly 
sensitive  to  criticism,  fiery  in  temper,  and  implacable 
in  his  wrath  when  aroused  against  vilifiers  and  sland 
erers.  "We  like  him,"  says  Nichol,  "as  we  like 
Savage  Landor,  because  he  was  free  and  fierce  and 
strong."  More  happily  Bryant  says,  "His  character 
was  like  the  bark  of  the  cinnamon,  a  rough  and  astrin 
gent  rind  without,  and  an  intense  sweetness  within." 

Cooper's  highest  distinction  as  an  original  author  is 
found  in  the  "  Leather  Stocking "  tales,  which  he 
well  called  "a  drama  in  five  acts."  Arranged  accord 
ing  to  the  development  of  the  main  character,  the 
successive  acts  of  this  forest  drama  are  "The  Deer- 
slayer,"  "  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans,"  "  The  Pathfinder," 
"  The  Pioneers,"  and  "  The  Prairie."  The  success 
The  Forest  with  which  the  adventurous  career  of  the 
Tales  hero,  Xatty  Bumppo,  or  Leather  Stocking, 

is  unfolded  from  youth  to  old  age,  with  unflagging  in 
terest  through  five  novels,  is  a  triumph  of  imaginative 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER   WRITERS  151 

creation.  "  Leather  Stocking  is  one  of  the  few  original 
characters,"  says  Lounsbury,  "  perhaps  the  only  great 
original  character  that  American  fiction  has  added  to 
the  literature  of  the  world."  He  is  genuine,  represen 
tative,  and  national ;  he  belongs  to  the  soil,  like  the 
buffalo,  and  like  the  buffalo,  is  the  type  of  an  extinct 
species,  known  familiarly  only  to  the  pioneer  stages  of 
our  civilization.  The  portrait  is  not  without  flaws. 
The  pedantic  verbosity  of  the  author  sometimes  gets 
mixed  with  Natty 's  picturesque  native  speech ;  but 
generally  there  is  little  to  disturb  the  reader's  delight 
in  the  companionship  of  this  child  of  nature,  with  his 
aboriginal  simplicity,  natural  piety,  homely  humor, 
and  astonishing  skill  in  woodcraft. 

To  Cooper  belongs  the  credit  of  adding  the  sea  to 
the  domain  of  imaginative  literature.     Captain  Mar- 
ryat,  Clark  Russell,  and  the  many  other  clever  spin 
ners  of  sea  yarns,  all  learned  their  lessons  from  him. 
He  wrote  "The  Pilot"  to  show  how  much  more  nauti-. 
cal  truth  a  real  sailor  could  give  to  a  story  than  Scott 
had  given  to  "  The  Pirate,"  and  the  breezes  still  blow 
fresh  through  the  sails  of  the  Ariel.    Even  The 
superior  to  "  The  Pilot,"  as  a  story,  is  "  The  Sea  Tales 
Red  Rover,"   a  tale   of   buccaneer    adventure,   after 
which  come  "  Win g-and- Wing,"  "  The  Two  Admirals," 
"The  Water  Witch,"  and  "Afloat  and  Ashore,"  of 
inferior  merit,  though  not  without  the  genuine  flavor 
of   the  sea.      His   sea  tales  are   saturated  with  salt 
spray,  as  the  forest_tales  are  filled  with  the  redolence 


152  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

ofjiemlock  and  spruce.  In  the  fullness  of  nautical 
lore,  in  the  vivid  picturing  of  swift-flying  vessels,  bat 
tling  with  tempestuous  waves,  or  grappling  with  a 
desperate  enemy,  in  the  powerful  presentation  of  all 
the  wild  and  romantic  phases  of  ocean  life  in  the 
early  days,  Cooper  shows  an  easy  mastery. 

In  the  field  of  historical  romance,  into  which  he 
was  naturally  led  by  his  ardent  patriotism,  Cooper 
achieved  but  one  prominent  success.  The  hero  of 
"  The  Spy,"  the  versatile  peddler,  Harvey  Birch,  who 
served  the  army  of  Washington  when  quartered  near 
New  York,  as  an  original  creation  is  a  fit  companion 
Historical  ^or  Long  Tom  Coffin  and  Natty  Bumppo. 
Tales  f  The  interest  of  the  other  Revolutionary 
and  colonial  stories  is  mainly  confined  to  descriptions 
of  manners  and  customs,  and  to  narrative  episodes. 
"  Lionel  Lincoln,"  for  example,  is  valuable  only  for 
the  account  of  the  fights  at  Concord  and  Bunker 
Hill,  which  Bancroft  once  declared  to  be  the  best 
description  of  those  scenes  ever  written.  Cooper's 
genius  developed  its  full  strength  when  in  the  com 
pany  of  men  in  deerskin  and  tarpaulin;  his  weak 
nesses  were  all  brought  forth  by  contact  with  ordinary 
society.  The  temptation  to  lecture  his  fellow-men, 
and  chastise  his  enemies,  betrayed  him  away  from 
the  true  path  of  the  story-teller. 

His  faults  as  a  writer  are  many  and  palpable  enough. 
He  moralizes  too  much,  his  social  and  religious  preju 
dices  are  too  prominent,  his  conversations  are  stilted 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER   WRITERS  153 

and  unreal,  his  introductions  are  often  tediously  long, 
his  female  characters  are  generally  blushing  and  faint 
ing  creatures,  without  vitality  or  human  interest,  and 
his  polite  gentlemen  are  men  of  wood,  and  sapless 
wood  at  that.  There  is  no  true  sentiment 

Literary 

or  passion.  The  inevitable  love  story  trail-  Faults  and 
ing  through  the  narrative  is  generally  sense 
less  and  absurd.  But  his  faults  are  easily  forgotten 
and  forgiven  in  his  best  works.  His  power  is  in  the 
description  of  exciting  adventures;  his  scenes  of 
action  are  alive  Avith  vivid  reality.  His  enthusiasm 
for  the  woods  is  irresistible.  With  Hawk-eye, 
Uncas,  and  Chingachgook,  he  brings  the  reader  into 
living  comradeship.  He  is  called  the  "  American 
Scott,"  for  with  Scott  he  shares  some  of  the  highest 
equalities  of  the  perfect  story-teller.  As  Scott's  true 
field  was  the  romance  of  history,  Cooper's  field  was 
the  romance  of  wild  nature.  "  In  Leather  Stocking," 
says  Richardson,  "  Cooper  created,  developed,  and 
completed  one  of  the  most  natural  and  significant  and 
attractive  characters  in  the  fiction  of  all  lands."  His 
Indians,  although  conscientious  studies  from  the  life, 
are  undoubtedly  idealizations ;  but  they  have  been 
permanently  accepted  the  world  over,  and  whatever 
may  be  the  contradiction  of  facts,  will  remain  the 
Indians  of  literature. 

Of  the  rhetorical  qualities  of  his  work,  Lounsbury 
says :  "  He  rarely  attained  to  beauty  of  style.  The 
rapidity  with  which  he  wrote  forbids  the  idea  that  he 


154  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

ever  strove  earnestly  for  it.  Even  the  essential  but 
minor  grace  of  clearness  is  sometimes  denied  him.  He 
had  not,  in  truth,  the  instincts  of  the  born  literary 
artist.  Satisfied  with  producing  the  main  effect,  he 
was  apt  to  be  careless  in  the  consistent  working  out 
of  details.  Plot,  in  any  genuine  sense  of  the  word 
'  plot,'  is  to  be  found  in  very  few  of  his  stories.  He 
seems  rarely  to  have  planned  all  the  events  before 
hand  ;  or,  if  he  did,  anything  was  likely  to  divert  him 
from  his  original  intention.  The  incidents  often  ap 
pear  to  have  been  suggested  as  the  tale  was  in  pro 
cess  of  composition.  Hence  the  constant  presence 
of  incongruities  with  the  frequent  result  of  bringing 
about  a  bungling  and  incomplete  development." 

It  is  now  often  thought  to  be  a  mark  of  critical 
wisdom  to  disparage  Cooper's  novels,  and  to  class 
them  among  juveniles.  Such  judgment,  however,  is 
indicative  of  a  narrow  sense  of  literary  values.  If 
the  critics  of  his  own  generation,  in  the  stimulating 
rush  of  his  novel  narratives,  were  sometimes  too  lib- 
Permanent  eral  i11  their  estimates  of  his  genius,  it  is 
Position  nevertheless  certain  that  Cooper  holds  a 
permanent  place  of  dignity  and  honor.  Of  this  place 
his  careful  biographer  says :  "  Cooper  is  one  of  the 
people's  novelists,  as  opposed  to  the  novelists  of 
highly  cultivated  men.  This  does  not  imply  that  he 
has  not  been,  and  is  not  still,  a  favorite  with  many  of 
the  latter.  The  names  of  those,  indeed,  who  have  ex 
pressed  excessive  admiration  for  his  writings  far  sur- 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  155 

pass  in  reputation  and  even  critical  ability  those  who 
have  spoken  of  him  depreciatingly.  Still  the  general 
statement  is  true  that  it  is  with  the  masses  he  has 
found  favor  chiefly.  The  sale  of  his  Looks  has 
known  no  abatement  since  his  death." 

Reading  and  Discussion.  —  The  Spy  ;  The  Deerslayer  ;  The 
Pathfinder,  or  The  Last  of  the  Mohicans  ;  The  Pilot,  or  The 
Red  Rover. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Lounsbury's  "James  Fenimore 
Cooper"  (American  Men  of  Letters).  Clymer's  "James  Feni 
more  Cooper"  (Beacon  Biographies).  Bryant's  "Orations 
and  Addresses."  Wilson's  "  Bryant  and  his  Friends."  Rich 
ardson's  "American  Literature,"  Vol.  II,  chap.  9.  Nichol's 
"  American  Literature."  Atlantic  Monthly,  February,  1887. 
Susan  Fenimore  Cooper's  Introductions  to  the  "Leather-Stock 
ing  Tales"  and  "  Sea  Tales."  Parton's  "  Life  of  Horace  Gree- 
ley,"  chap.  18.  Matthews's  "Americanisms  and  Briticisms." 
Lowell's  "Fable  for  Critics."  Mark  Twain's  "  How  to  Tell  a 
Story,  and  other  Essays."  Wendell's  "Literary  History  of 
America." 


NATHANIEL   PARKER    WILLIS 

*>-    X 

1806-1867 

Nathaniel  Parker  Willis,  for  many  years  the  most 
popular  magazine  writer  in  America,  was  born  in 
Portland,  in  1806,  the  year  before  Longfellow  was 
born  in  the  same  city.  He  was  educated  at  YalfijCJol-- 
lege,  and  began  his  career  as  a  journalist  in  Boston, 
where  his  father  established  the  first  religious  paper, 
the  Boston  Recorder,  and  the  first  children's  paper,  the 


156  AMERICAN    LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Youth's  Companion.  While  in  college  he  became  widely 
known  through  his  poems  on  scriptural  subjects. 

Willis's  early  work  belongs  to  the  period  of  the  ele 
gantly  sentimental  "  Annuals,"  when  no  parlor  table 
was  complete  without  its  "  Gems "  and  "  Albums " 
with  "embellishments,"  "Thought  Blossoms,"  " For 
get-in  e-Nots,"  "Tokens,"  and  "Friendship's  Offerings." 
Age  of  The  craze  for  this  "  gemmiferous  "  litera- 

" Annuals"  ture,  represented  in  England  by  Mrs.  Nor 
ton  and  "L.  E.  L.,"  and  in  America  by  James  Gates 
Percival  and  Mrs.  Sigourney,  continued  for  some 
twenty  years.  To  these  gilt-edged  collections  of 
prose  and  verse  Willis  was  a  favorite  contributor. 
Indeed,  much  of  his  poetry,  says  his  biographer, 
"was  album-verse,  with  an  air  of  the  boudoir  and 
ball-room  about  it,  a  silvery  elegance  and  an  exotic 
perfume,  that  smack  of  that  very  sentimental  and 
artificial  school." 

He  spent  several  years  in  Europe,  enjoyed  unparal 
leled  popularity  with  people  of  eminence  in  all 
classes,  and  recorded  his  experiences  in  a  delightful 
series  of  sketches,  "  Pencillings  by  the  Way,"  first 
sent  as  weekly  letters  to  the  New  York  Mirror, 
and  in  other  collections,  as  "  Inklings  of  Adventure  " 
and  "  Loiterings  of  Travel."  The  "  Pencillings  "  were 
extravagantly  praised,  and  attained  to  a  peculiar  ce 
lebrity,  owing  to  the  unreserve  with  which  the  author 
gossiped  about  distinguished  people.  In  1836  he  re 
turned  with  an  English  wife,  and  settled  at  "  Glen- 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  157 

mary,"  Owego,  N.  Y.,  where  he  wrote  the  charming 
rural  sketches,  "  Letters  from  under  a  Bridge."  His 
more  celebrated  home  was  "Idlewild,"  near  Cornwall- 
on-the-Hudson.  His  nearest  approach  to  a  profes 
sional  position  was  that  of  joint  editor  witli  Morris 
of  the  Home  Journal,  for  which  he  wrote  indefatiga- 
bly  during  the  last  years  of  his  life. 

Willis  was  something  of  a  fop  both  in  his  manners 
and  in  his  writings,  for  which,  however,  he  has  been 
too  severely  censured.  He  wrote  merely  to  please, 
cleverly  and  often  brilliantly,  and  always  with  a 
sunny  and  healthful  optimism.  In  his  best  essays 
and  stories  there  is  a  stimulating  effervescence  of 
style  so  sparkling  and  delicious  that  one  does  not 
notice  the  tenuity  of  thought.  Indeed,  his  instinct 
for  style  was  an  important  formative  influence  in  our 
literature  in  the  period  when  Cooper's  indifferent 
English  was  assailing  the  public  taste.  Literary 
His  work  was  ephemeral,  but  some  of  it  Quallties 
is  too  valuable  a  contribution  to  refined  enjoyment 
to  be  lost.  As  Lowell  said :  — 

'Tis  not  deep  as  a  river,  but  who'd  have  it  deep  ? 

His  easy,  exuberant  expression  was  the  result  of 
painstaking  care,  as  shown  by  his  manuscripts,  filled 
with  erasures  and  emendations.  His  English,  says 
Beers,  "  had  many  excellent  qualities.  It  was  crisp, 
clean  cut,  pointed,  nimble  on  the  turn.  He  was  good 
at  a  quotation,  deftly  brought  in,  unhackneyed,  and 


158  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

never  too  much  of  it,  a  single  phrase  or  sentence  or 
half  a  line  of  verse  may  be.  There  is  a  perpetual 
twinkle  or  ripple  over  his  style,  like  a  quaver  in 
music,  which  sometimes  fatigues.  Is  the  man  never 
going  to  forget  himself  and  say  a  thing  plainly  ?  the 
reader  asks.  But  the  verbal  prettinesses  and  affecta 
tions  which  disfigured  his  later  prose  do  not  abound 
in  his  earlier  and  better  work.  He  had  at  all  times, 
however,  a  feminine  fondness  for  italics  and  exclama 
tions,  and  his  figures  had  a  daintiness  which  dis 
pleased  severe  critics.  Thus :  '  The  gold  of  the  sunset 
had  glided  up  the  dark  pine-tops  and  disappeared, 
like  a  ring  taken  slowly  from  an  Ethiop's  finger.' 
1  As  much  salt  as  could  be  tied  up  in  the  cup  of  a 
large  water-lily,'  is  an  instance  of  his  superfine  way 
of  putting  things.  He  likened  Daniel  Webster's  fore 
head,  among  the  heads  at  a  Jenny  Lind  concert,  to  '  a 
massive  magnolia  blossom,  too  heavy  for  the  breeze 
to  stir,  splendid  and  silent  amid  fluttering  poplar 
leaves.' "  Although  euphuistic  writing  of  this  kind 
is  not  permitted  by  the  severer  taste  of  the  present 
age,  the  sternest  critic  may  enjoy  it  without  endan 
gering  his  self-respect. 

Class   Reading.  —  Poems :    The  Bglfry^Pigeon  ;   To  a  City 

Pigeon  ;   To   M from   Abroad  ;    Spring ;    Unseen  Spirits  L 

Love  in  a  Cottage  ;  _.The  Annoyer  ;  The  Sacrifice  of  Abraham  ; 

Absalom. 

~~  Prose :   Letters  from  under  a  Bridge;  A  Dinner  jit  Lady 

Blessington's  ;  A  Breakfast  with  Charles  Lamb;   A  Week  at 

Gordon  Castle,  from  Pencillings  by  the  Way. 


in]  THE    KNICKERBOCKER    WRITERS  159 

Biography  and  Criticism. —  Beers's"  Nathaniel  Parker  Willis" 
(American  Men  of  Letters)  and  "  Prose  Writings  of  N.  P. 
Willis."  Richardson's  '-American  Literature."  Poe's  "Lit 
erati."  Whipple's  "Essays  and  Reviews,"  Vol.  I.  Lowell's 
"Fable  for  Critics." 

HISTORICAL   BACKGROUND 

National  Expansion. — Schouler's  "History  of  the  United 
States,"  Vol.  IV.  McMasters  "  History  of  the  People  of  the 
United  States,"  Vol.  IV,  chap.  33;  Vol.  V,  chaps.  45,  47. 
Drake's  "  Making  of  the  Great  West."  Roosevelt's  "  Winning 
of  the  West,"  Vol.  IV,  chap.  7.  Goodrich's  "  Recollections  of 
a  Lifetime."  Flint's  "Recollections."  Gay's  "James  Mon 
roe"  (American  Statesmen).  Royce's  "California";  King's 
"Ohio";  Barrows's  "Oregon"  (American  Commonwealths). 
Benton's  "Thirty  Years'  View."  Sparks's  "Pioneer  Life  in 
the  Ohio  Valley."  Powell's  "  Historic  Towns  of  the  Western 
States."  "  History  of  the  Expedition  under  Lewis  and  Clarke," 
edited  by  Cones.  Brooks's  "First  Across  the  Continent." 
Halsey's  "Old  New  York  Frontier."  Warman's  "Story  of 
the  Railroad"  (Story  of  the  West  Series).  Cairns's  "On  the 
Development  of  American  Literature  from  1815-1833." 

Illustrative  Literature.  —  Irving's  "  Captain  Bonneville"  and 
"A  Tonr  on  the  Prairies."  Cooper's  "Prairie."  Mrs.  Kirk- 
land's  "  Forest  Life  "  and  "  Western  Clearings."  Bird's  "  Nick 
of  the  Woods."  Paulding's  "Westward  Hoi"  Parkman's 
"  Oregon  Trail."  Thorpe's  "  Hive  of  the  Bee  Hunter."  Eggle- 
ston's  "Circuit  Rider"  and  "The  Graysons."  Bret  Harte's 
"  Outcasts  of  Poker  Flat "  and  "  A  Ship  of  '49."  Mark  Twain's 
"  Roughing  It"  and  "Life  on  the  Mississippi."  Longfellow's 
"Poems  of  Places  —  Western  States."  Kirkland's  "Zury." 
Dye's  "  McLoughlin  and  Old  Oregon." 

New  York. — Roberta's  "New  York"  (American  Common 
wealths),  Vol.  II,  chap.  34.  Roosevelt's  "New  York,"  chaps. 
12,  13.  Mrs.  Lamb's  "History  of  New  York."  Janvier's  "In 
Old  New  York."  "  The  Knickerbocker  Gallery,"  1855- 


CHAPTER   IV 

TRANSCENDENTALISM 


THE  most  important  influence  in  the  development 
of  American  literature  was  the  intellectual  and  spir 
itual  awakening  in  New  England  known  as  the 
Transcendental  Movement.  Transcendentalism  was  a 
vagrant  impulse  started  in  Germany,  and  passed  on 
through  England  to  America  by  Coleridge  and  Car- 
lyle;  by  Emerson  and  his  followers  it  was  localized 

and  embodied  in  forms  of  creative  effort; 
The  Tran 
scendental       its  altars  were  set  up  in  Concord,  a  quiet 

Massachusetts  village,  which  for  more  than 
half  a  century  has  been  the  home  and  resort  of  poets 
and  philosophers ;  from  this  center  radiated  influences 
that  have  been  productive  of  the  finest  fruits  of 
American  genius.  Emerson  and  his  associates  were 
so  closely  related  by  a  kinship  of  ideas  that  the  group 
might  with  propriety  be  called  the  Concord  School. 

The  movement  passed  through  many  phases.  It 
began  with  the  reaction  against  orthodox  Calvinism, 
which,  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Channing,  resulted 
in  Unitarianism.  From  Unitarianism  it  broadened 
rapidly  into  the  Transcendentalism  of  Emerson  and 
160 


CHAP,   ivj  TRANSCENDENTALISM  161 

the  liberal  Christianity  of  Theodore  Parker.  It  devel 
oped  various  schemes  of  social  reform,  the  most  nota 
ble  of  which  was  the  Brook  Farm  experiment,  directed 
by  George  Ripley,  with  whom  Hawthorne,  George 
William  Curtis,  and  other  choice  spirits,  were  asso 
ciated,  in  an  attempt  at  plain  living  and  high  think 
ing,  based  on  the  communal  principle.  The  movement 
may  be  said  to  have  culminated  in  the  anti-slavery 
agitation  and  the  Civil  War. 

The  fundamental  characteristics  of  the  movement 
were  idealism,  liberalism,  independence,  and  reform. 
It  was  a  protest  against  slavery  in  every  form  — 
physical,  mental,  and  spiritual.  Dogma  and  authority 
were  renounced,  and  the  rights  of  private  Fundamental 
consciousness  asserted.  Man  should  "  plant  Ideas 
himself  indomitably  on  his  instincts,"  declared  Emer 
son.  About  1836  a  number  of  young  people,  says 
Higginson,  "  discovered  that  it  was  possible  to  take  a 
look  at  the  stars  for  themselves."  These  young  people 
were  members  of  the  "  Transcendental  Club,"  among 
whom  were  Emerson,  Ripley,  Channing,  Alcott,  Par 
ker,  James  Freeman  Clarke,  Elizabeth  Peabody,  Mar 
garet  Fuller,  and  others,  who  Avith  ardent  minds  were 
giving  color  to  a  new  dawn  in  New  England  thought. 
They  were  united,  however,  only  in  the  one  respect  of 
enthusiasm  for  broader  and  better  thinking  and  living. 
Goethe  and  German  philosophy  were  studied  and  dis 
cussed  ;  Carlyle's  "  Sartor  Resartus,"  which  Emerson 
republished,  was  a  powerful  leaven.  In  1840  the 


162  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Dial  was  started,  a  periodical,  edited  by  Margaret 
Fuller  and  later  by  Emerson,  which  for  four  years 
was  the  special  organ  of  the  Transcendental  writers. 
The  era  of  "new  views"  naturally  produced  its 
excesses  of  unballasted  enthusiasm,  and  became  tem 
porarily  prolific  of  absurd  isms  and  fantastic  reforms. 
Every  new  theory  was  seized  upon  with  the  hope  of 
some  important  revelation.  Mesmerism  had  its  adepts, 
and  hydropathy,  and  phrenology.  Fourierism  had  its 
converts.  Chimerical  projects  for  social  regeneration 
were  discussed  in  "  conventions."  "  Communities  were 
established,"  says  Lowell,  "where  everything  was  to 
Reform  be  common  but  common  sense."  Alcott  re- 

Excesses  nounced  meat,  and  preached  what  Carlyle 
called  his  "  potato  gospel."  Graham  would  have  no 
bolted  flour.  "  One  apostle,"  says  Emerson,  "  thought 
all  men  should  go  to  farming;  and  another  that  no 
man  should  buy  or  sell,  that  the  use  of  money  was  the 
cardinal  evil ;  another  that  the  mischief  was  in  our 
diet,  that  we  eat  and  drink  damnation.  Others  as 
sailed  particular  vocations,  as  that  of  the  lawyer,  that 
of  the  merchant,  of  the  manufacturer,  of  the  clergy 
man,  of  the  scholar."  But  along  with  "  this  din  of 
opinion  and  debate,"  he  adds,  "  there  was  a  keener 
scrutiny  of  institutions  and  domestic  life  than  any 
we  had  known;  there  was  sincere  protesting  against 
existing  evils,  and  there  were  changes  of  employment 
dictated  by  conscience.  No  doubt  there  was  plentiful 
vaporing,  and  excess  of  backsliding  might  occur.  But 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  163 

in  each  of  these  movements  emerged  a  good  result, 
a  tendency  to  the  adoption  of  simpler  methods,  and 
an  assertion  of  the  sufficiency  of  the  private  man." l 

Opinions  called  "  Unitarian "  began  to  be  current 
about  1815,  and  for  many  years  a  heated  controversy 
was  maintained  between  the  orthodox  and  the  radical 
Congregationalists.  William  Ellery  Channing,  who 
had  received  his  first  religious  instruction  from 
Samuel  Hopkins,  in  Newport,  became  the  leader 
of  the  radicals,  and  first  gave  to  the  body  conscious 
ness  and  the  courage  of  its  convictions.  William 
,  His  sermon  at  the  ordination  of  Jared  ^!lery. 

Channing, 

Sparks,  in  Baltimore,  in  1819,  was  re-  1780-1842 
garded  as  "  a  solemn  impeachment  of  Calvinistic  the 
ology."  He  asserted  the  dignity  of  human  nature, 
which  he  believed  to  be  degraded  by  the  doctrines 
of  Calvinism,  maintained  the  rights  of  human  reason, 
and  exalted  the  function  of  the  individual  conscience. 

We  must  start  in  religion  from  our  own  souls.  In  these  is 
the  fountain  of  all  divine  truth.  An  outward  revelation  is  only 
possible  and  intelligible  on  the  ground  of  conceptions  and  prin 
ciples  previously  furnished  by  the  soul.  Here  is  our  primitive 
teacher  and  light.  There  are,  indeed,  philosophical  schools  of 
the  present  da}^  who  tell  us  that  we  are  to  start  in  all  our  specu 
lations  from  the  Absolute,  the  Infinite.  But  we  rise  to  these 
conceptions  from  the  contemplation  of  our  own  nature.  .  .  . 
The  only  God  whom  our  thoughts  can  rest  on,  and  our  hearts 
can  cling  to,  and  our  consciences  can  recognize,  is  the  God 
whose  image  dwells  in  our  own  souls. 

1  "The  New  England  Reformers." 


164  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Here  we  find  the  individualism  and  the  self- 
centered  spiritual  authority  of  Emerson's  teaching. 
Comparing  this  passage  with  Jonathan  Edwards's 
denunciation  of  human  nature,  as  the  "  predestinate  " 
object  of  the  Almighty's  "  everlasting  wrath,"  one  can 
perceive,  as  in  no  other  way  so  well,  the  depth  and 
significance  of  the  change  that  was  taking  place  in 
New  England  thinking. 

An  intense  love  of  freedom  was  fundamental  to  all 
of  Channing's  preaching  and  writing,  which  made  him 
an  opponent  of  slavery  as  well  as  of  Calvinism.  "  We 
were  made  for  free  action.  This  alone  is  life,  and 
enters  into  all  that  is  good  and  great."  Boston  still 
treasures  as  a  precious  inheritance  the  memory  of  his 
devout  presence,  lofty  spirituality,  and  eloquent,  per 
suasive  preaching.  "It  was  not  oratory,"  says  James 
Freeman  Clarke,  "  it  was  not  rhetoric ;  it  was  pure 
soul,  uttering  itself  in  thoughts  clear  and  strong  as 
the  current  of  a  mighty  stream." 

Unitarianism  was  not  only  an  expansive,  revolu 
tionary  force  in  theology,  but  a  stimulating,  energizing 
force  in  literature,  acting,  in  this  direction,  in  unison 
with  the  more  radical  transcendental  thought.  Chan 
ning's  writings  were  largely  controversial,  but  his 
essays  on  the  "  Life  and  Character  of  Napoleon  Bona 
parte"  and  "The  Character  and  Writings  of  John 
Milton"  were  contributions  to  permanent  literature. 
They  mark  an  era  in  American  prose ;  no  critical 
work  had  before  appeared  so  elaborate  in  form,  so 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  165 

excellent  in  style,  and  so  rich  in  knowledge.     "The 
intrinsic   merit   of    his   writings,"    says   Kichardson, 

"  which  are  broad  in  range,  earnest  in  tone. 

'    Chanmng's 

graceful  in  style,  and  at  times  highly  elo-  Literary 
quent,  is  considerable.  It  is  not  usual  for  a  Influen 
theologian  to  be  read  half  a  century  after  death,  and 
such  has  been  Channing's  good  fortune.  Yet  it  would 
be  too  much  to  call  him  one  of  the  first  American 
authors,  if  we  limit  the  adjective  to  writers  of  the 
grade  of  Emerson,  Hawthorne,  Lowell,  Longfellow, 
or  Bryant.  His  work  was  valuable,  because  it  was 
both  a  sign  of,  and  an  influence  toward,  that  indige 
nous  culture  which  America  was  beginning  to  show. 
If  America,  between  1820  and  1840,  with  all  her  in 
tellectual  crudities  and  follies,  was  displaying  some 
thing  of  the  academic  spirit  and  work,  and  some 
foretaste  of  'sweetness,'  some  dawn  of  'light,'  she 
owed  the  boon,  in  considerable  measure,  to  the  fact 
that  Channing  lived  and  wrote." 

Closely  allied  to  the  Transcendentalists,  and  a  "here- 
siarch  "  among  the  Unitarians,  was  Theodore  Parker, 
Boston's  most  remarkable  preacher  after  Channing. 
He  began  preaching  at  West  Roxbury  in 
1837,  where  he  enjoyed  intercourse  with  Parker, 
the  eager  intellects  of  Brook  Farm,  and 
later  became  the  pastor  of  an  independent  congre 
gation  in  Boston.     He  was  an  omnivorous  reader  and 
prodigious  worker,  and  his  voluminous  and  volcanic 
eloquence  was  used  with  telling  effect  in  his  incessant 


166  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

labor  as  preacher,  lyeeum  lecturer,  and  anti-slavery 
agitator.  "  He  had  no  grace  of  person,"  writes  his 
biographer,  "no  charm  of  expression,  no  music  of 
voice,  no  power  of  gesture;  his  clear,  steady,  pene 
trating  blue  eye  was  concealed  by  glasses.  Still, 
notwithstanding  these  disadvantages,  his  intensity 
of  conviction,  his  mass  of  knowledge,  his  warmth 
and  breadth  of  feeling,  his  picturesqueness  of  lan 
guage,  his  frankness  of  avowal,  fascinated  young  and 
old."  His  belief,  so  far  as  it  was  more  than  a  faith  in 
freedom,  knowledge,  and  spiritual  enlightenment,  was 
"theism  based  upon  transcendental  principles."  Push 
ing  the  liberalism  of  Channing  to  its  logical  but  un 
expected  extreme,  he  became  the  leader  of  the  radical 
wing  of  the  church  since  known  as  "  Parkerite  Uni 
tarians."  Of  his  works,  collected  in  fourteen  volumes, 
"  Historic  Americans,"  and  "  Lessons  from  the  World 
of  Matter  and  the  World  of  Man,"  have  the  most 
permanent  interest. 

Between  the  conservative  and  radical  Unitarians 
stood  James  Freeman  Clarke,  a  popular  Boston  min 
ister,  widely  known  by  his  "  Common  Sense  in  Re- 
Tames  Free-  lig^V  "  Ten  Great  Religions,"  and  other 
man  Clarke,  books  of  a  similar  character.  He  was  the 
friend  of  all  literary  men  and  literary 
movements,  and  while  holding  essentially  to  the 
religious  position  of  Channing,  was  able  to  sympa 
thize  with  the  most  advanced  thinkers  among  the 
Transcendentalists.  The  progress  from  Channing's 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  167 

Unitarianism  to  Transcendentalism  and  Parker's 
radicalism,  and  thence  to  modern  rationalism,  was  a 
natural  expansion  of  the  right  of  free  thought.  The 
logical  tendency  of  Protestantism  is  toward  individ 
ualism.  On  the  spiritual  side  both  Channing  and 
Emerson  were  the  legitimate  descendants  of  Jonathan 
Edwards.  The  "  sweetness  "  of  spiritual  perfection 
which  Edwards  dared  to  claim  only  for  the  "  elect  " 
the  Transcendentalists  claimed  for  all  men. 


The  preaching  of  Channing  was  supplemented  by  the  criti 
cism  of  Andrews  Norton  (1786-185:!),  an  accomplished  Biblical 
scholar  at  Cambridge,  who  exposed  the  weaknesses  of  the  argu 
ments  of  Calvinism  and  its  errors  of  scriptural  interpretation. 
"Channing  delighted,"  says  Whipple,  "to  portray  the  felici 
ties  of  a  heavenly  frame  of  mind  ;  Norton  delighted  to  exhibit 
the  felicities  of  accurate  exegesis.  Both  were 
masters  of  style  ;  but  Channing  used  his  rhetoric  Unitarian 
to  prove  that  the  doctrines  of  Calvinism  were  •  t 
abhorrent  to  the  God-given  moral  nature  of  man  ; 
Norton  employed  his  somewhat  dry  and  bleak  but  singularly 
lucid  powers  of  statement,  exposition,  and  logic  to  show  that 
his  opponents  were  deficient  in  scholarship  and  sophistical  in 
argumentation."  The  new  theology  was  propagated  in  New 
York  by  Orville  Dewey  (1794-1882),  who  was  once  associated 
with  Channing  as  assistant  minister  ;  a  man  of  fertile  mind, 
with  a  deeply  reverent  sense  of  the  dignity  of  human  life  and 
its  ideal  beauty,  still  known  in  his  thoughtful  lectures  on  "The 
Problem  of  Human  Destiny."  A  long  step  toward  rationalism 
was  taken  by  John  Gorham  Palfrey  (1796-1881),  Professor  of 
Biblical  Literature  at  Harvard,  better  known  as  the  historian 
of  New  England,  who,  in  his  "Academical  Lectures  on  the 
Jewish  Scriptures,"  explained  most  of  the  miracles  of  the  Old 
Testament  on  natural  principles. 


168  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Among  the  stanch  defenders  of  Calvinism  against  the 
Unitarian  heresy  were  the  Andover  professors,  Moses  Stuart 
(1780-1852),  who,  taking  the  hint  from  his  adversaries,  intro 
duced  to  Americans  the  German  scholars  whose  works  would 
count  on  the  side  of  orthodoxy  ;  and  Leonard  Woods  (1774- 

1854),  whose  glory  it  is,  according  to  a  later 
Calvinism  divine,  to  have  "  educated  more  than  a  thousand 

preachers  who  had  neither  crotchets  nor  airy 
aims."  The  leading  champion  of  the  Trinitarians  for  many 
years  was  Lyman  Beecher  (1775-1863),  father  of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  who  was  called  from  a  sixteen  years'  pastorate  in 
Litchfield,  Connecticut,  to  a  pulpit  in  Boston,  that  he  might  be 
face  to  face,  as  it  were,  with  the  enemy.  These  men  were 
strong  preachers  and  hard  fighters,  and  their  many  volumes  of 
orthodox  exposition  and  argument  form  a  memorial  of  the 
great  conflict  that  commands  less  and  less  of  the  interest  of 
succeeding  generations. 


., 
RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON 

1803-1882 

"  Socrates  or  Plato,  if  suddenly  brought  to  life  again 
in  America,  might  have  spoken  like  Emerson,  and  the 
effect  produced  by  Emerson  was  certainly  like  that 
produced  by  Socrates  in  olden  times."  So  writes  Max 
Muller,  in  his  recollections  of  literary  friendships  l  ; 
and  similarly  others  have  sought  to  summarize  the 
peculiar  energizing  results  of  Emerson's  work  by 
bestowing  upon  him  such  appellations  as  "  The  Buddha 
of  the  West,"  "  The  Yankee  Plato,"  and  "  The  Intel 
lectual  Emancipator  of  America." 

1  "  Auld  Lang  Syne,"  1st  series,  p.  172. 


IV] 


TRANSCENDENTALISM 


169 


Education 


Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  was  born  in  Boston,  May  15, 
1803,  "within  a  kite-string's  distance"  from  the  birth 
place  of  Franklin.  He  was  educated  at 
the  Boston  Latin  School  and  Harvard  Col 
lege,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1821.  He  delivered 
a  poem  at  his 
commencement 
and  received  a 
second  prize  for 
English  compo 
sition,  but  was 
not  distinguished 
for  scholarship, 
and  seems  to  have 
given  little  evi 
dence  of  the 
powers  within 
him.  His  class- 
in  a  t  e,  J  o  s  i  a  h 
Quincy,  describes 
him  as  "  quiet, 
unobtrusive,  and 
only  a  fair  scholar  according  to  the  standard  of  the 
college  authorities."  On  leaving  college  he  engaged 
in  teaching.  One  of  his  pupils  remembers  him  as 
"  very  grave,  quiet,  and  very  impressive  in  his  appear 
ance.  There  was  something  engaging,  almost  fasci 
nating,  about  him ;  he  was  never  harsh  or  severe, 
always  perfectly  self-controlled,  never  punished  except 


Ralph  Waldo  Emerson 


170  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

with  words,  but  exercised  complete  command  over  the 
boys." 

The  descendant  of  eight  generations  of  clergymen,/ 
Emerson  was  led  into  the  ministry,  as  it  were,  by  force 
of  inheritance.  He  was  ordained  as  a  Unitarian 
preacher  in  Boston  in  1829,  but  doubts  and  scruples 
arising  in  his  mind  about  administering  the  communion, 
he  resigned  his  pastorate  in  1832,  and  soon  afterward 
abandoned  preaching  altogether.  His  sermons  appear 
to  have  been  singularly  attractive.  Many  recall  their 
beauty  of  language,  earnestness,  and  "  an  indefinite 
charm  of  simplicity  and  wisdom."  In  1833  he  went 
abroad,  traveled  in  Italy  and  France,  met  Coleridge, 
Preacher  and  Wordsworth,  and  Landor,  and  visited 
Lecturer  Carlyle  in  his  wild  Scotch  home  at  Craigen- 
puttock,  forming  an  acquaintance  that  led  to  a  remark 
able  correspondence  extending  over  thirty-six  years. 
Mrs.  Carlyle  said  years  afterward,  that  he  came  like  one 
"out  of  the  clouds"  into  their  desert,  "and  made  one 
day  there  look  like  enchantment  for  us  "  ;  and  Carlyle 
thought  him  "  one  of  the  most  lovable  creatures  they 
had  ever  looked  on."  The  next  year  he  settled  in 
Concord,  living  at  first  in  the  village  parsonage,  after 
ward  Hawthorne's  "Old  Manse."  He  now  began  his 
career  as  a  lecturer,  and  for  many  consecutive  years 
delivered  courses  of  lectures,  out  of  which  were  formed, 
by  a  slow  process  of  condensation  and  selection,  his 
final  "Essays."  In  1835  his  second  marriage  oc 
curred,  his  first  wife  having  died  in  1832. 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  171 

Emerson  published  anonymously  in  1836  his  first 
important  essay,  "Nature,"  a  kind  of  prose  poem,  so 
strange  in  language  and  thought  that  few  comprehended 
it,  or  suspected  it  to  be  the  harbinger  of  an  intellectual 
revolution.  In  April  of  the  same  year,  for  the  cele 
bration  at  the  raising  of  a  monument  to  commemorate 


The  "Old  Manse"  at  Concord 

the  Concord  fight,  he  wrote  the  fine  "  Concord  Hymn," 
containing  the  memorable  lines  :  — 

Here  once  the  embattled  farmers  stood. 
And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world. 

In  1837  the  celebrated  Phi  Beta  Kappa  oration,  "  The 
American  Scholar,"  was  delivered  at  Harvard,  a  dis 
course  that  marks  an  epoch  in  American  thinking  and 


172  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

writing.  It  was  an  event,  says  Lowell,  "  without  any 
former  parallel  in  our  literary  annals,  a  scene  to  be 

always  treasured  in  the  memory  for  its 
intellectual  picturesqueness  and  its  inspiration.  What 

crowded  and  breathless  aisles,  what  windows 
clustering  with  eager  heads,  what  enthusiasm  of  ap 
proval,  what  grim  silence  of  foregone  dissent !  "  The 
address  was  a  plea  for  generous  culture,  the  study  of 
nature  and  books  and  men,  for  purposes  of  mental  and 
spiritual  exaltation,  in  contrast  with  the  absorbing 
pursuit  of  material  gain  into  which  Americans  were 
plunging ;  also  for  an  independent,  self-respecting 
culture.  "We  have  listened  too  long,"  he  says,  "to 
the  courtly  muses  of  Europe.  The  spirit  of  the 
American  freeman  is  already  suspected  to  be  timid, 
imitative,  tame."  It  was  "  our  intellectual  Declaration 
of  Independence,"  says  Holmes.  "Young  men  Avent 
out  from  it  as  if  a  prophet  had  been  proclaiming  to 
them  '  Thus  saith  the  Lord.'  "  This  plea  for  culture 
as  the  corrective  of  materializing  tendencies  was  again 
made  in  1841  in  the  address  entitled  "The  Method  of 
Nature,"  and  his  words  have  still  a  burning  pertinency 
in  their  application  to  American  life. 

We  hear  too  much  of  the  results  of  machinery,  commerce, 
and  the  useful  arts.  We  are  a  puny  and  fickle  folk.  Avarice, 
hesitation,  and  following  are  our  diseases.  The  rapid  wealth 
which  hundreds  in  the  community  acquire  in  trade,  or  by  the 
incessant  expansion  of  our  population  and  arts,  enchants  the 
eyes  of  all  the  rest ;  this  luck  of  one  is  the  hope  of  thousands, 
and  the  bribe  acts  like  the  neighborhood  of  a  gold  mine  to 


ivj  TRANSCENDENTALISM  173 

impoverish  the  farm,  the  school,  the  church,  the  house,  and 
the  very  body  and  feature  of  man.  .  .  .  While  the  multitude 
of  men  degrade  each  other,  and  give  currency  to  desponding 
doctrines,  the  scholar  must  be  a  bringer  of  hope,  and  must 
reenforce  man  against  himself. 

These  early  addresses  and  the  essay  "  Nature  "  were 
the  inspiring  sources  of  the  transcendental  literature ; 
henceforth  Emerson  was  a  leader  and  seer.  Truly  did 
Carlyle  write,  "  You  are  a  new  era,  my  man,  in  your 
huge  country."  The  new  doctrines  aroused  conserva 
tive  astonishment  and  led  to  controversies;  but  in 
these  Emerson  took  no  part  himself,  defining  his  office 
to  be,  "  Seeing  whatever  I  can,  and  telling  what  I  see." 
He  would  be  only  a  revealer  of  truth,  not  its  defender. 
"  Like  a  rose  tree  in  June,  which  blossoms  sweetly 
whether  the  air  be  chilly  or  sunny,  his  thought  quietly 
flowed  into  exquisite  expression.  You  might  like  it  or 
leave  it.  But  the  rose  would  be  still  a  rose." l 

A  great   sorrow  came  to  Emerson,  in  1842,  in  the 
death  of  his  first-born  son,  whose  memory  is  enshrined 
in  the  beautiful  and   pathetic  "Threnody,"   a   poem 
which,  in  the  opinion  of  Holmes,  "  has  the  dignity  of 
'  Lycidas '  without  its  refrigerating  classi 
cism,    and    with    all    the    tenderness    of  Lectures  in 
Cowper's    lines    on     the    receipt    of    his     ngaB 
mother's  picture."     In  1847  he  reluctantly  yielded  to 
the  wishes  of  his  friends  in  England,  that  he  should 

1  George  William  Curtis's  "Other  Essays  from  the  Easy 
Chair,"  p.  104. 


174  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

be  heard  there  as  a  lecturer,  and  delivered  in  Edin 
burgh,  Manchester,  and  other  cities,  the  lectures  with 
which  we  are  now  familiar  as  "  Representative  Men." 
It  was  during  this  visit  that  George  Eliot  met  him  and 
wrote  to  a  friend :  "  I  have  seen  Emerson  —  the  first 
man  I  have  ever  seen."  A  literary  result  of  this  visit 
was  the  popular  volume  called  "English  Traits." 

Emerson's  saying  that  "great  geniuses  have  the 
shortest  biographies"  applies  to  himself.  He  lived 
calmly  apart  from  the  seething  activities  of  the  world; 
his  commerce  was  with  the  skies,  whence  he  brought 
aid  and  consolation  to  men.  His  life  flowed  placidly 
on  like  the  quiet  river  that  flowed  by  his  home,  pure, 
transparent,  and  radiant  with  sunshine.  The  first 
volume  of  his  collected  "Essays"  appeared  in  1841, 
containing  some  of  his  most  cherished  work,  as. the 
essay  son  "History,"  "Self -Reliance,"  "Compensation," 
A  Life  of  "Love,"  "Friendship,"  and  "Heroism." 
Few  Events  ^  «  secon(j  Series  "  of  essays  appeared  in 
1844,  to  which  were  added  "  The  Conduct  of  Life," 
1860,  "  Society  and  Solitude,"  1870,  and  "  Letters  and 
Social  Aims,"  1876.  The  term  "  essays "  might  ap 
propriately  be  the  title  of  all  his  works,  for  his  method 
is  essentially  the  same  in  each  volume.  Even  the 
poems  are  often  but  rhythmic  expressions  of  ideas  in 
the  essays.  In  1871  he  visited  California,  and  the 
following  year  made  his  third  trip  to  Europe.  His 
final  home-coming  was  made  memorable  by  the  enthu 
siastic  welcome  of  his  loring  townspeople ;  from  the 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  175 

railway  station  he  was  "  escorted  with  music  between 
two  rows  of  smiling  school  children  to  his  house, 
where  a  triumphal  arch  of  leaves  and  flowers  had  been 
erected."  He  was  honored,  in  1874,  with  the  nomi 
nation  for  the  office  of  Lord  Rector  of  Glasgow  Uni 
versity,  and  received  five  hundred  votes  against  seven 
hundred  for  his  competitor,  Lord  Beaconsfield.  In 
twilight  beauty  his  old  age  sank  peacefully  away  to 
death,  which  came  April  27,  1882. 

Emerson's   personality   was    refined,   gracious,  and 
'    noble.    "There  was  a  majesty  about  him,"  says  Lowell, 
"  beyond  all  other  men  I  have  known,  and  he  habitually 
dwelt  in  that  ampler  and  diviner  air  to 

Personality 

which  most  of  us,  if  ever,  only  rise  in 
spurts."  Says  Hawthorne  :  "  It  was  good  to  meet  him 
in  the  wood-paths  or  sometimes  in  our  avenue,  with 
that  pure  intellectual  gleam  diffused  about  his  presence 
like  the  garment  of  a  shining  one ;  and  he  so  quiet,  so 
simple,  so  without  pretension,  encountering  each  man 
alive  as  if  expecting  to  receive  more  than  he  could 
impart."  And  he  adds,  "It  was  impossible  to  dwell 
in  his  vicinity  without  inhaling  more  or  less  the 
mountain  atmosphere  of  his  lofty  thought."  He  was  a 
philosopher  among  farmers,  and  the  Concord  farmers 
honored  and  loved  him,  though  they  did  not  understand 
him.  He  was  faithful  to  social  and  civic  duties,  kind 
and  courteous  to  visitors,  infinitely  patient  even  with 
the  inquisitive  stranger.  "His  friends  were  all  who 
knew  him  "  ;  even  "  babes  in  arms  returned  his  angelic 


176  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

smile."  Yet  his  life  was  led  apart  from  men;  it  was 
a  life  "hidden  in  the  light  of  thought."  He  often 
spiced  his  philosophy  with  the  shrewd  Yankee  sense, 
but  he  lacked  the  Yankee  aptitude  for  practical  affairs. 
After  vain  trials  with  the  hoe  and  pruning  knife,  he 
turned  his  gardening  over  to  Thoreau.  His  little  son, 
seeing  him  awkwardly  working  with  a  spade,  cried 
out,  "Take  care,  papa,  you'll  dig  your  leg;"  and  he 
once  humorously  said  of  his  manual  dexterity  that  he 
could  "  split  a  shingle  four  ways  with  one  nail."  His 
purse  was  never  filled.  A  new  stove  for  the  kitchen 
depended  upon  the  success  of  a  season's  lecturing. 
With  the  mere  business  of  living  he  could  not  seriously 
concern  himself.  His  business  was  with  the  stars. 

The  philosophy  of  Emerson  is  Idealism,  applied  to 
practical  life ;  its  highest  truths  come  through  the  I 
intuitions,  not  through  the  "  half  sight  of  science."  In 
its  expression  he  is  sometimes  carried  in  lofty  rhapso 
dies  to  the  verge  of  mysticism,  as  in  "Nature,"  "The 
Over-Soul,"  and  the  poem  "  Brahma  "  ;  but  generally 
his  thought  is  well  anchored  in  common  sense,  and  he 
Emerson's  everywhere  gives  inspiring  and  illuminat- 
Phiiosophy  jng  evidence  of  the  possibilities  of  life  on 
a  higher  level.  He  is  the  mystic  and  the  man  of  sense 
united,  as  suggested  in  Holmes's  happy  comparison:  — 

Where  in  the  realm  of  thought,  whose  air  is  song, 
Does  he,  the  Buddha  of  the  West,  belong  ? 
He  seems  a  winged  Franklin,  sweetly  wise, 
Born  to  unlock  the  secrets  of  the  skies. 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  177 

His  constant  theme  is  the  omnipresence  of  God.  Soul 
permeates  all  things.  "The  world  is  saturated  with 
deity."  His  mental  attitude  is  optimistic,  always  that  '; 
of  trust  and  faith.  "  My  whole  philosophy,"  he  says, 
"'which  is  very  real,  teaches  acquiescence  and  op 
timism."  His  influence  is  that  of  an  inspirer,  giving  a 
spiritual  lift  to  all  who  reach  out  to  him.  Individualism 
and  self-reliance  are  fundamental  to  his  theory  of  life. 
"  Insist  on  yourself ;  never  imitate."  He  is  not  afraid 
of  inconsistency.  "  With  consistency  a  great  soul  has 
simply  nothing  to  do,"  he  says.  "  Speak  what  you 
think  now  in  hard  words  and  to-morrow  speak  what 
to-morrow  thinks  in  hard  words  again,  though  it 
contradict  everything  you  said  to-day."  He  at  times 
seems  distant  and  cold;  the  light  of  his  thought  is 
astral  rather  than  solar ;  but  if  the  heart  is  not  always 
warmed,  the  soul  is  purified  and  exalted.  He  formu 
lates  no  system  of  philosophy  ;  he  asserts,  but  does  not 
argue;  and  stimulates  in  others  independent  and 
original  thought.  "  He  was  the  great  liberalizer,"  says 
Curtis.  His  thought  entered  into  the  mental  con 
sciousness  of  New  England  and  cleared  away  its 
acerbity ;  tempered  the  harsh  theological  atmosphere 
that  enveloped  it,  and  brought  forth  the  sweet  flowers 
and  fruitage  of  Longfellow,  Lowell,  and  Whittier. 
New  England  without  Concord  and  Emerson  would  be 
like  Greece  without  Athens  and  Plato.  Of  the  final 
value  of  his  work  Matthew  Arnold  says  :  "  As  Words 
worth's  poetry  is  in  my  judgment  the  most  important 


178  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

work  done  in  verse  in  our  language  during  the  present 
century,  so  Emerson's  'Essays'  are,  I  think,  the  most 
important  work  done  in  prose."  And  this  estimate  is 
well  supplemented  by  Henry  James's  explanation  of 
the  fundamental  and  abiding  power  of  his  work : 
"  There  have  been  many  spiritual  voices  appealing, 
consoling,  reassuring,  exhorting,  or  even  denouncing 
and  terrifying,  but  none  has  had  just  that  firmness  and 
just  that  purity.  It  penetrates  farther,  it  seems  to  go 
back  to  the  roots  of  our  feelings,  to  where  conduct  and 
manhood  begin ;  and,  moreover,  to  us  to-day,  there  is 
something  in  it  that  says  that  it  is  connected  somehow 
with  the  virtue  of  the  world,  has  wrought  and  achieved, 
lived  in  thousands  of  minds,  produced  a  mass  of 
character  and  life." 

Emerson's  essays  are  mosaics  of  precious  thoughts,  \ 
arranged  without  definite  design,  and  held  together  by 
the  cohesiveness  of  spirit  rather  than  of  logic.  He 
confesses  to  a  "  lapidary  style.  I  build  my  house  of 
bowlders."  Carlyle  complained  that  his  paragraph  is 
not  "  a  beaten  ingot,"  but  "  a  beautiful  square  bag  of 
duckshot  held  together  by  canvas."  He  made  endless 
Prose  notebooks,  and  from  these  would  sift  the 

style  substance  of  a  lecture  or  an  essay.     His 

thought  ran  naturally  into  crisp,  laconic  sayings,  asso 
ciated,  rather  than  correlated,  with  a  central  theme. 
Thickly  strewn  everywhere  upon  his  pages  are  aphor 
istic  sentences  like  these :  - 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  179 

Hitch  your  wagon  to  a  star. 

Character  teaches  above  our  wills. 

Beauty  is  the  mark  God  sets  upon  virtue. 

Every  man's  task  is  his  life-preserver. 

A  great  man  is  always  willing  to  be  little. 

Nature  is  loved  by  what  is  best  in  us. 

God  builds  his  temple  in  the  heart  on  the  ruins  of  churches 
and  religions. 

Men  are  like  Geneva  watches  with  crystal  faces  which  ex 
pose  the  whole  movement. 

Truth  is  the  summit  of  being ;  justice  is  the  application  of 
it  to  affairs. 

Prudence  is  the  virtue  of  the  senses.  It  is  the  science  of 
appearances.  It  is  the  outmost  action  of  the  inward  life.  It  is 
God  taking  thought  for  oxen. 

"  Emerson's  style,"  says  Holmes,  "  is  epigrammatic, 
incisive,  authoritative,  sometimes  quaint,  never  ob 
scure,  except  when  he  is  handling  nebulous  subjects. 
His  paragraphs  are  full  of  brittle  sentences  that  break 
apart  and  are  independent  units,  like  the  fragments 
of  a  coral  colony.  His  fertility  of  illustrative  imagery 
is  very  great.  His  images  are  noble,  or,  if  borrowed 
from  humble  objects,  ennobled  by  his  handling.  He 
throws  his  royal  robe  over  a  milking  stool  and  it  be 
comes  a  throne."  "  His  eye  for  a  fine,  telling  phrase," 
says  Lowell,  "that  will  carry  true,  is  like  that  of  a 
backwoodsman  for  a  rifle ;  and  he  will  dredge  you  up 
a  choice  word  from  the  mud  of  Cotton  Mather  himself. 
A  diction  at  once  so  rich  and  so  homely  as  his,  I  know 
not  where  to  match  in  these  days  of  writing  by  the 
page;  it  is  like  homespun  eloth-of-gold." 


180  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

In  respect  to  Emerson  as  a  poet,  critical  opinion  is 
widely  varied,  according  as  emphasis  is  placed  on  the 
form  or  on  the  substance,  in  denning  the  essentials  of 
poetry.  He  possessed  the  vision  but  not  the  "  faculty 
divine,"  and  his  poetic  limitations  can  be  frankly  ad 
mitted  without  detriment  to  his  worth  or  fame.  The 
feeling  and  the  exaltation  of  the  poet  were  his  dis 
tinctive  qualities ;  much  of  his  prose  is  poetry  in  the 
rough ;  but  his  poetic  expression  was  imperfect ;]  he 
Poetic  lacked  skill  in  managing  the  technique  of 

Limitations  verse,  f  His  ear  was  defective,  betraying 
him  frequently  into  halting  and  struggling  rhythms, 
and  rhymes  that  are  sometimes  cases  of  "  actual  ver- 
bicide."  And  yet  he  often  triumphed  supremely  over 
his  defects.  Verse  seemed  to  have  a  special  attraction 
for  him  when  he  wished  to  embody  some  particularly 
fine  or  exalted  thought,  and  so  one  finds  everywhere 
in  his  poems  beautiful  and  noble  passages,  "happy 
and  golden  lines,  snatches  of  grace,"  which  illustrate 
his  own  principle,  that  "  great  thoughts  insure  musi 
cal  expression."  He  has  a  way  of  astonishing  the 
reader  into  admiration  by  sudden  flashes  of  light  and 
beauty  and  power.  Stedman  confesses  that  at  times 
he  thinks  him  "  the  first  of  our  lyric  poets,  his  turns 
are  so  wild  and  unexpected ; "  and  an  English  critic 
generously  remarks :  "  If  Emerson  had  been  fre 
quently  sustained  at  the  heights  he  was  capable  of 
reaching,  he  would  unquestionably  have  been  one  of 
the  sovereign  poets  of  the  world.  At  its  very  best, 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  181 

his  phrase  is  so  new  and  so  magical,  includes  in  its 
easy  felicity  such  a  wealth  of  fresh  suggestion,  and 
flashes  with  such  a  multitude  of  side  lights,  that  we 
cannot  suppose  that  it  will  ever  be  superseded,  or  will 
lose  its  charm."  1 

His  fine  phrasing  of  striking  and  detached  thoughts 
in  crisp  epigrammatic  form  is  not  equaled  by  other 
American  poets.     His  favorite  octosyllabic  poetic 
verse,  which  runs  so  easily  into  crudeness  style 
and  commonplace  when  overworked,  is  well  suited  to 
this  condensed  form  of  expression.     The  "  Problem  " 
is  almost  a  succession  of  these  pregnant  sayings :  — 

Out  from  the  heart  of  nature  rolled 
The  burdens  of  the  Bible  old. 

One  accent  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
The  heedless  world  hath  never  lost. 

Compare  also  the  familiar  lines  of  the  "  lihodora " 

if  eyes  were  made  for  seeing, 
Then  beauty  is  its  own  excuse  for  being, 

and  the  exquisite  imagery  with  which  the  "  Concord 
Ode"  opens  — 

0  tenderly  the  haughty  day 
Fills  his  blue  urn  with  fire. 

The  poetic  limitations  of  Emerson  are  felt  in  the 
substance  of  his  verse  almost  as  much  as  in  the  form. 
It  is  lacking  in  human  warmth  and  fellowship.  Ex- 

1  Edmund  Gosse's  "Questions  at  Issue,"  p.  87. 


182  AMERICAN    LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

cept  in  the  deep  tones  of  the  "  Threnody  "  and  in  the 
patriotic  poems,  there  is  little  of  passion  or  emotion, 
passionless  little  of  joy  or  pain.  All  is  calm,  philo- 
Poetry  sophic,  sublime.  Such  poetry  moves  the 

intellect,  but  does  not  melt  into  the  heart.  Its  atmos 
phere  is  clear  and  frosty,  and  like  a  winter  landscape 
it  affects  one  with  a  sense  of  isolation.  The  poet  him 
self  is  a  vague,  intangible  figure ;  somewhere  beyond 
the  reader's  ken  he  sits  alone  gazing  at  the  stars. 
Only  when  in  contact  with  nature  does  he  seem  to 
reach  out  familiarly  to  his  fellow-beings.  A  humblebee 
almost  persuades  him  to  be  humorous.  He  worships 
nature,  but  not  like  Keats,  or  Shelley,  or  even  the 
philosophic  Wordsworth.  He  hears  no  music  in  the 
fields  like  that  of  the  "  Solitary  Reaper,"  whose  voice 

is  an  echo  of 

Old,  unhappy,  far-off  things 
And  battles  long  ago. 

But  it  is  almost  an  impertinence  to  discuss  the 
limits  of  a  genius  that  expressed  itself  chiefly  and 
best  in  scorn  of  rules  and  formulas.  Emerson's 
poetry  is  original  and  genuine,  its  message  to  the 
soul  is  authentic,  and  it  does  not  matter  that  in  total 
value  it  is  surpassed  by  his  prose.  The  touch  of 
divinity  is  upon  it,  and  that  is  enough,  if  we  can 
but  feel  and  see  that  it  is  there.  The  singularity  of 
his  poetic  greatness  is  strikingly  presented  by  John 
Burroughs,  whose  spirit  is  to  the  spirit  of  Emerson 
something  more  than  kin :  "  Not  in  the  poetry  of 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  183 

any  of  his  contemporaries  is  there  such  a  burden 
of  the  mystery  of  tilings,  or  such  round  wind-harp 
tones,  lines  so  tense  and  resonant,  and  blown  upon  by 
a  breeze  from  the  highest  heaven  of  thought.  In 
certain  respects  he  has  gone  beyond  any  other.  He 
has  gone  beyond  the  symbol  to  the  thing  signified. 
He  has  emptied  poetic  forms  of  their  meaning,  and 
made  poetry  of  that.  He  would  fain  cut  the  world 
up  into  stars  to  shine  in  the  intellectual  firmament. 
He  is  more  and  he  is  less  than  the  best.  He  stands 
among  other  poets  like  a  pine  tree  amid  a  forest  of  oak 
and  maple.  He  seems  to  belong  to  another  race,  and 
to  other  climes  and  conditions.  He  is  greafr  in  one 
direction  —  up  ;  no  dancing  leaves,  but  rapt  needles  ; 
never  abandonment,  never  a  tossing  and  careering, 
never  an  avalanche  of  emotion;  the  same  in  sun  and 
snow,  scattering  his  cones,  and  with  night  and  ob 

scurity  amid  his  branches."  l 

"" 


Class  Study.  —  Essays:  The  American  Scholar  ;  Compensa 
tion  ;  Self-Reliance  ;  Friendship. 

Poems  :  The  Problem  ;  The  Rhodora  ;  The  Humblebee  ;  The 
Snowstorm  ;  Woodnotes  ;  Threnody  ;  Concord  Hymn;  Fable  ; 
The  Apology  ;  Good-Bye. 

Class  Reading.  —  Essays  :  Character  ;  History  ;  Success  ; 
Shakspere. 

Poems  :  Each  and  All  ;  May  Day  ;  The  Titmouse  ;  Sea 
Shore  ;  Days  ;  Musketaquid  ;  The  Sphinx  ;  Two  Rivers  ;  Boston 
Hymn. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Cabot's  "Memoir  of  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson."  Holmes's  "Ralph  Waldo  Emerson" 

1  John  Burroughs'.s  ll  Birds  and  Poets,"  p.  199. 


184  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

(American  Men  of  Letters).  Garnett's  "  Ralph  Waldo  Emer 
son  "  (Great  Writers).  Conway's  "Emerson  at  Home  and 
Abroad."  E.  W.  Emerson's  "  Emerson  in  Concord." 
Norton's  "  Correspondence  of  Carlyle  and  Emerson."  Mrs. 
Fields's  "Authors  and  Friends."  Woodbury's  "Talks  witli 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson."  Alcott's  "Concord  Days."  Whip- 
pie's  "Recollections  of  Eminent  Men."  Ireland's  "In  Me- 
moriam :  Emerson."  Lowell's  "Emerson  the  Lecturer"  and 
"Thoreau"  (Prose  Works,  Vol.  I)  and  "Fable  for  Critics.'' 
Curtis's  "  Literary  and  Social  Essays."  Matthew  Arnold's 
"Discourses  in  America."  Morley's  "Ralph  Waldo  Emer 
son:  an  Essay."  Chapman's  "Emerson  and  Other  Essays." 
Birrell's  "Obiter  Dicta,"  2d  series.  Burroughs's  "Indoor 
Studies"  and  "Birds  and  Poets."  Henry  James's  "Partial 
Portraits."  Scudder's  "Men  and  Letters.''  Cooke's  "Emer 
son:  his^Life,  Writings,  and  Philosophy. "  Johnson's  "Three 
Englishmen  and  Three  Americans."  Grimm's  "Literature." 
Sanborn's  "  Genius  and  Character  of  Emerson."  Richardson's 
"American  Literature,"  Vol.  I,  chap.  9;  Vol.  II,  chap.  ">. 
Whipple's  "  American  Literature."  Alcott's  "  Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson  :  an  Estimate  of  his  Character  and  Genius."  Hig- 
ginson's  "  Contemporaries."  Julian  Hawthorne's  "  Confessions 
and  Criticisms.''  Frothingham's  "Transcendentalism  in  New 
England,"  chap  9.  Welsh's  "  Development  of  English  Litera 
ture."  Forster's  "  Four  Great  Teachers."  Hunt's  "  Studies  in 
Literature  and  Style."  Santayana's  "Poetry  and  Religion." 
Garnett's  "Essays  of  an  Ex-Librarian." 

Poets'  Tributes.  —  Hayne's  "To  Emerson  on  his  Seventy- 
seventh  Birthday.''  Stedman's  "  Corda  Concordia."  Alcott's 
"  Ion  :  a  Monody."  Emma  Lazarus's  "  To  R.  W.  E."  Susan 
Coolidge's  "  Concord."  Sanborn's  "  The  Poet's  Countersign. '' 
Lucy  Larcom's  "  R.  W.  E."  Stoddard's  "  At  Concord."  Mat 
thew  Arnold's  "  Written  in  Emerson's  Essays."  Cranch't; 
"  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson." 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  185 


HENRY  DAVID  THOREAU 
1817-1862 

Henry  David  Thoreau,  "  the  poet  naturalist,"  was 
born  in  Concord,  in  1817,  and  there  lived  his  strange 
life  to  the  end.  As  indicated  by  his  name,  his  remote 
ancestry  was  French,  but  he  was  himself  a  thorough 
bred  Yankee.  He  was  graduated  from  Harvard  in 
1837,  without  distinction  as  a  scholar,  but  became 
proficient  in  Greek,  and  in  later  life  made  a  transla 
tion  of  the  "  Prometheus  Bound  "  of  ^Eschylus.  He 
taught  a  short  time,  then  took  up  pencil- 
making,  his  father's  trade,  and  when  he  and 
had  succeeded  in  making  a  better  pencil 
than  was  then  in  use,  surprised  his  friends  by  declar 
ing  his  intention  never  to  make  another  pencil :  "  Why 
should  I  ?  I  would  not  do  again  what  I  have  done 
once."  The  way  to  fortune  thus  opened  had  no  at 
tractions  for  him.  Reading  and  the  study  of  wild 
life  were  the  only  occupations  that  satisfied  him,  and 
for  these  he  renounced  the  world,  preferring  to  the 
society  of  men  "  that  glorious  society  called  Soli 
tude."  He  chose,  says  Emerson,  "  to  be  the  bachelor 
of  thought  and  Nature." 

About  six  weeks  of  paid  labor  in  the  year  Thoreau 
found  to  be  enough  to  supply  his  simple  wants.  He 
was  a  skillful  carpenter,  gardener,  and  land  surveyor, 
and  the  neighboring  farmers  learned  to  respect  the 


186  AMERICAN    LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

eccentric  recluse  as  they  found  his  knowledge  of  their 
fields  to  be  far  superior  to  their  own.  He  lectured 
frequently  at  the  Concord  Athenaeum,  and  occasionally 
elsewhere.  The  little  world  of  his  native  town  was 
all-sufficient  for  him,  and  he  seldom  left  it  to  explore 
the  great  world.  "  The  sight  of  a  marsh  hawk  in 
His  Field  Concord  meadows,"  he  says,  "  is  worth 
of  study  more  to  me  than  the  entry  of  the  Allies 
into  Paris."  Concord  Kiver  was  as  interesting  as 
the  Mississippi  or  the  Amazon.  His  first  published 
volume,  "A  Week  on  the  Concord  and  Merrimac 
Kivers,"  describes  an  excursion  made  with  his  brother 
in  a  boat  of  his  own  building.  Excursions  to  the 
forests  of  Maine  and  Canada  and  to  the  salt  marshes 
of  Cape  Cod  yielded  materials  for  the  volumes  entitled 
"  Maine  Woods,"  "  A  Yankee  in  Canada,"  and  "  Cape 
Cod."  In  1845  he  built  with  his  own  hands  a  cabin 
on  the  shore  of  Walden  pond,  a  mile  south  of  the 
village,  and  his  two  years'  life  in  this  hermitage  is 
described  in  the  most  popular  and  most  charming  of 
his  books,  "  Walden ;  or  Life  in  the  Woods."  The 
site  of  the  cabin  is  now  marked  by  a  cairn  of  stones 
gathered  from  the  neighboring  fields,  to  which  each 
devoted  pilgrim  adds  a  stone. 

In  an  early  college  essay  Thoreau  commends  the 
•practice  of  "  keeping  a  private  journal  or  record  of 
our  thoughts,  feelings,  studies,  and  daily  experience." 
Such  a  journal  he  himself  kept,  from  1837  until  his 
death,  which  is  comprised  in  thirty  manuscript  vol- 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  187 

nines,  and  from  which  material  for  several  posthumous 
volumes  has  been  obtained.  He  could  seldom  be  in 
duced  to  interrupt  his  studies  to  address  Literary 
the  public.  Besides  an  occasional  essay  or  Habits 
poem  he  published  only  two  works  during  his  life 
time,  the  "Week,"  and  « Walden."  Of  the  first 
nearly  the  whole  edition  was  sent  back  to  him  by 
the  publisher  unsold.  "  I  have  now,"  he  says,  "  a 
library  of  nearly  nine  hundred  volumes,  over  seven 
hundred  of  which  I  wrote  myself."  He  was  indiffer 
ent  to  fame,  and  did  not  need  public  interest  or  private 
sympathy  to  encourage  him  in  his  work. 

He  had  few  friendships ;  animals  and  Indians  were 
more  companionable  than  cultivated  men,  because 
nearer  the  heart  of  Nature.  His  master  and  chief 
friend  was  Emerson,  the  cast  of  whose  personal 
thought  is  on  all  he  wrote.  Although  ap-  Qualities 
parently  without  human  sympathy,  he  was  one  of  the 
first  to  speak  fearlessly  in  behalf  of  the  slaves.  He 
was  as  obstinately  independent  in  his  actions  and  con 
victions  as  Nature  herself.  Opposition  stimulated 
him,  and  toughened  the  fiber  of  his  nature,  as  the 
wind  strengthens  a  tree.  He  says,  "  I  love  to  go 
through  a  patch  of  scrub  oaks  in  a  bee-line,  where  you 
tear  your  clothes  and  put  your  eyes  out."  He  enjoys 
storms,  is  "  glad  to  be  drenched  "  in  a  cold  rain ;  "  it 
gives  a  tone  to  my  system."  He  has  the  palate  of  an 
out-door  man  and  relishes  "  the  sours  and  bitters  of 
nature,"  and  so  genuine  is  his  enjoyment  that  readers 


188  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAI-. 

are  bound  to  share  his  enthusiasms.  Indeed,  when 
reading  his  essay  on  "  Wild  Apples,"  one  feels  that  it 
would  be  easy  to  forego  peaches  and  oranges  for 
ever. 

The  true  value  of  Thoreau's  writings  has  been  dis 
covered  only  in  recent  years.  The  secret  of  his  power 
is  in  a  sympathetic  and  minute  knowledge  of  Nature, 
Nearness  to  suff used  with  ideality.  He  was  a  natural- 
Nature  is^  ku£  11O£  a  scientist.  He  would  never 
use  trap  or  gun ;  like  Hawthorne's  Donatello  he  pos 
sessed  a  kind  of  mysterious  kinship  with  the  animal 
Avorld.  The  hunted  fox  came  to  him  for  shelter,  squir 
rels  nestled  in  his  clothing,  and  though  men  found  him 
cold  and  disagreeable,  children  delighted  in  his  com 
pany.  All  living  objects  seemed  to  yield  their  secrets 
to  him  as  his  right.  He  had  the  poet's  sensitiveness 
to  every  sound  and  scene  of  beauty,  and  at  times  could 
express  his  feeling  in  well-turned  verse.  Occasionally, 
as  in  the  poem  "  Smoke,"  he  shows  a  classic  felicity 
of  expression  as  exquisite  as  the  Greek.  But  his 
poetry  was  happily  judged  by  Emerson  :  u  The  thyme 
and  marjoram  are  not  yet  honey."  Although  his 
prose  is  tilled  with  the  substance  of  poetry,  his 
mind  was  too  untamable  to  submit  to  the  restraints 
of  verse.  His  general  qualities  were  well  summarized 
by  himself:  "The  truth  is  I  am  a  mystic,  a  transcen- 
dentalist,  and  a  natural  philosopher  to  boot." 

Of  Thoreau  as  a  writer  Lowell  says :  "  His  range 
was  narrow,  but  to  be  a  master  is  to  be  a  master.  He 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  189 

had  caught  his  English  at  its  living  source,  among  the 
poets  and  prose  writers  of  its  best  days ;  his  litera 
ture  was  extensive  and  recondite ;  Ids  quotations  are 
always  nuggets  of  the  purest  ore  ;  there  are  Lowell's 
sentences  of  his  as  perfect  as  anything  in  Criticism 
the  language,  and  thoughts  as  clearly  crystallized ;  his 
metaphors  and  images  are  always  fresh  from  the  soil ; 
he  had  watched  Nature  like  a  detective  who  is  to  go 
upon  the  stand ;  as  we  read  him  it  seems  as  if  all-out-of- 
doors  had  kept  a  diary  and  become  its  own  Montaigne ; 
we  look  at  the  landscape  as  in  a  Claude  Lorraine 
glass ;  compared  with  his,  all  other  books  of  similar 
aim,  even  White's  '  Selborne,'  seem  dry  as  a  country 
clergyman's  meteorological  journal  in  an  old  almanac." 
And  yet  to  many  he  can  be  a  trifle  dull ;  he  observes 
minutely,  his  sight  is  microscopic,  and  he  records  de 
tails  endlessly,  and  the  aim  of  it  all  is  indefinite. 
"  He  took  nature  as  the  mountain-path  to  an  ideal 
world.  If  the  path  wind  a  good  deal,  if  he  record  too 
faithfully  every  trip  over  a  root,  if  he  botanize  some 
what  wearisomely,  he  gives  us  now  and  then  superb 
outlooks  from  some  jutting  crag,  and  brings  us  out  at 
last  into  an  illimitable  ether,  where  the  breathing  is 
not  difficult  for  those  who  have  any  true  touch  of  the 
climbing  spirit." 

Class  Study.  —  Excursions  :  The  Succession  of  Forest  Trees  ; 
Wild  Apples  ;  A  Winter  Walk. 

Class  Reading.  —  Excursio  ns  :  Walking;  Autumnal  Tints; 
Night  and  Moonlight;  Walden ;  Early  Spring  in  Massachusetts. 


190  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAT. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Sanborn's  "  Thoreau  "  (Ameri 
can  Men  of  Letters).  Page's  "Thoreau,  his  Life  and  Aims." 
Emerson's  "Biographical  Sketch"  (Introduction  to  "Wai- 
den").  Channing's  "  Thoreau,  the  Poet  Naturalist."  Salt's 
"  Life  of  Henry  David  Thoreau."  Lowell's  Prose  Works,  Vol.  I. 
Burroughs's  "  Indoor  Studies."  Stevenson's  "  Familiar  Studies 
of  Men  and  Books."  Louisa  M.  Alcott's  "Thoreau's  Flute." 
Emerson's  "  Woodnotes." 


NATHANIEL    HAWTHORNE 
1804-1864 

With  the  Transcendentalists,  but  not  of  them,  was 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne,  the  greatest  romancer  and  the 
finest  imaginative  artist  in  American  literature.  He 
was  born  July  4,  1804,  in  witch-haunted  Salem.  His 
ancestors  for  many  generations  were  celebrated  for 
their  stern  and  vigorous  qualities ;  one  per 
secuted  the  Quakers,  and  another  con 
demned  witches;  his  grandfather  was  the  "Bold 
Hawthorne"  of  the  Revolutionary  ballad;  his  father 
was  also  a  sea  captain,  and  died  in  South  America  in 
1808.  Unlike  these  sturdy  ancestors  as  was  Haw 
thorne,  the  gentle  dreamer,  yet  "  strong  traits  of  their 
nature,"  he  says,  "have  intertwined  themselves  with 
mine." 

When  fourteen  years  old  he  went  with  his  widowed 
mother  to  Raymond,  Maine,  where  for  a  year  he  lived 
"  like  a  bird  of  the  air,  so  perfect  was  the  freedom  I 
enjoyed."  He  loved  to  wander  in  the  forest  and  skate 
until  midnight  all  alone  on  Sebago  lake,  ''with  the 


IV] 


TRANSCENDENTALISM 


191 


deep  shadows  of  the  icy  hills  on  either  hand/'  Here, 
he  declared  in  after  years,  "  I  first  got  my  cursed 
habit  of  solitude."  He  studied  under  Dr. 
Worcester,  the  author  of  the  dictionary, 
and  was  graduated  from  Bowdoin  College  in  1825. 
Longfellow  was 
his  classmate  and 
Franklin  Pierce 
and  Horatio 
Bridge  were  his 
most  intimate  col 
lege  friends.  His 
mates  called  him 
"  0  b  e  r  o  n ,"  for 
from  early  youth 
he  possessed  a 
strikingly  fine 
physique,  strong, 
erect,  with 
grandly  molded 
head  and  large 
dark  eyes,  bril 
liant  and  beautiful  with  expression.  Charles  Reade 
said  that  he  had  never  seen  such  eyes  in  a  human  head. 
He  did  not  distinguish  himself  as  a  scholar,  though  "  a 
hearty  devourer  of  books,"  following  the  bent  of  his 
own  fancies,  or  with  his  friend  Bridge  "  gathering  blue 
berries  in  study  hours  under  those  tall  academic  pines, 
or  watching  the  great  logs  as  they  tumbled  along  the 


Nathaniel  Hawthorne 


192  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

current  of  the  Androseoggin,  or  shooting  pigeons  and 
gray  squirrels  in  the  woods,"  in  short,  "a  hundred 
things  the  faculty  never  heard  of.''  But  he  formed 
strong  friendships  with  Bunyan,  Spenser,  Shakspere, 
and  other  great  English  authors,  and  soon  after  gradua 
tion  published  "Fanshawe,"  a  story  of  college  life,  which 
he  afterwards  suppressed  when  a  better  disciplined 
taste  discovered  its  crudeness. 

For  twelve  years  after  leaving  college,  Hawthorne 
lived  a  stranger  in  his  own  town  and  a  recluse  in  his 
own  home,  indulging  to  the  full  his  relish  for  solitude. 
He  was  seldom  seen  in  the  daytime,  but  would  wander 
alone  at  night  along  the  haunted  streets  of  the  old 
town,  or  up  and  down  the  moonlit  seashore.  In  his 
Discipline  of  silent  chamber  he  studied  and  meditated, 
Solitude  an(j  Wrote  and  burned  his  rejected  manu 
scripts  and  wrote  again.  It  was  a  period  of  rigid  self- 
discipline,  during  which  the  fine  qualities  of  his  genius 
were  wrought  into  shape  for  the  production  of  exquisite 
works  of  art.  "  Here  I  sat  a  long,  long  time,  waiting 
patiently  for  the  world  to  know  me."  Some  of  his 
stories  had  appeared  in  the  magazines  and  annuals  of 
the  day,  and  in  1837  he  gathered  these  firstlings  of 
his  imagination  into  a  volume  felicitously  entitled 
"Twice-told  Tales."  They  were  generously  praised 
by  Longfellow  in  the  North  American  Review,  and  Poe, 
the  self -constituted  literary  dictator  of  the  period, 
grudgingly  acknowledged  their  power  and  foretold  the 
author's  high  fame.  He  was  not  much  longer  to  be, 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  193 

what  he  had  once  called  himself,  "the  obscurest  man  of 
letters  in  America." 

He  had  attracted  the  friendly  interest  of  Bancroft, 
the  historian,  and  through  him  received  an  appoint 
ment  in  the  Boston  Custom  House ;  but  the  measuring 
of  coal  he  found  to  be  "a  very  grievous  thraldom," 
from  which  he  escaped  in  two  years.  He  spent  the 
next  year  with  the  Brook  Farm  community,  hoping  to 
find  in  this  experiment  with  modified  communism,  in 
which  "nobler  loves  and  nobler  cares"  Brook  Farm 
were  to  prevail,  favorable  conditions  for  a  and  Marriage 
comfortable,  if  not  an  ideal  home;  for  he  was  now 
preparing  for  the  most  important  event  of  his  life,  his 
marriage  to  Sophia  Peabody,  whom  his  son-in-law, 
Lathrop,  describes  as  "  a  woman  of  the  most  exquisite 
natural  cultivation  conceivable."  Transcendental 
farming  proved  to  be  an  expensive  delusion,  and  in 
1842  he  left  this  visionary  Arcady,  married,  and  settled 
in  the  "  Old  Manse,"  the  ancient  parsonage  of  Concord. 
Here  three  years  were  "  devoted  to  literature  and  hap 
piness."  In  this  "  Eden  "  grew  "  The  Mosses  from  an 
Old  Manse,"  the  introduction  to  which  is  a  most 
charming  chapter  of  autobiography,  a  piece  of  idyllic 
writing  that  Curtis  thinks  to  be  "perhaps  the  most 
softly  hued  and  exquisite  work  of  his  pen." 

Publishers  paid  slowly  and  rneagerly  in  those  days, 
and  the  happy  couple  tasted  "  some  of  the  inconven 
iences  of  poverty."  Having  a  wholesome  dread  of  the 
wolf  at  the  door,  Hawthorne  accepted  the  position  of 


194  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

custom  house  surveyor  in  Salem.  Through  a  change 
of  administration  at  Washington,  he  lost  this  position 
Government  in  1849,  and  returned  to  productive  literary 
service  work.  It  is  noteworthy  that  Hawthorne 

wrote  nothing  during  his  various  periods  of  official 
service,  except  elaborate  notebooks  and  journals.  His 
delicately  organized  genius  would  not  create  under  the 
restraint  of  official  duty  ;  it  required  long  intervals  of 
uninterrupted  meditation.  He  now  worked  strenu 
ously  at  the  romance  that  had  been  slowly  taking 
shape  in  his  mind  during  the  custom  house  idleness, 
and  in  1850  "The  Scarlet  Letter"  was  published. 
Success  was  immediate  and  enthusiastic,  and  his 
reputation  was  established.  America  had  finally 
produced  an  imaginative  work  of  the  highest  order, 
and  one  that  in  pith  and  substance  was  truly  Ameri 
can. 

The  three  years  from  1850  to  1853  were  Haw 
thorne's  most  prolific  period.  He  lived  for  a  time  in 
Lenox,  among  the  Berkshires,  in  "the  ugliest  little 
old  red  farmhouse  you  ever  saw,"  and  there  wrote 
"The  House  of  Seven  Gables"  and  the  "Wonder 
Book."  In  1852  he  returned  to  Concord  to  establish 
his  home  at  the  "  Wayside,"  a  pleasant  old  house 
looking  out  upon  the  road  along  which  the  British 
soldiers  made  their  inglorious  march.  The  same  year 
appeared  the  "  Blithedale  Romance,"  "  the  lightest, 
the  brightest,  the  liveliest"  of  his  fictions.  Upon 
the  election  of  Pierce  to  the  presidency,  he  was  sent 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  195 

as  consul  to  Liverpool.  Seven  years  were  spent 
abroad,  the  last  part  of  the  period  in  Italy.  At  Flor 
ence  he  occupied  a  retired  villa  overlook-  Foreign 
ing  the  city,  "  with  a  moss-grown  tower  Residence 
haunted  by  the  ghost  of  a  monk  who  was  confined 
there  in  the  thirteenth  century.  I  mean  to  take  it 
away  bodily  and  clap  it  into  a  romance  which  I  have 
in  my  head."  The  romantic  villa  soon  appeared  in 
"The  Marble  Faun,"  which  was  published  in  1860, 
the  year  in  which  he  returned  to  America.  Settled 
again  at  the  "  Wayside,"  he  entered  upon  several  lit 
erary  projects,  but  completed  only  one  more  book, 
"  Our  Old  Home,"  made  from  his  English  notes  and 
recollections.  The  Civil  War  was  a  source  of  great 
depression,  to  which  his  creative  powers  yielded;  and 
liis  physical  health  strangely  and  steadily  declined. 
Two  novels  were  begun,  "Septimus  Felton  "  and  "The 
Dolliver  Romance."  The  opening  chapter  of  the  lat 
ter  had  been  given  to  the  printer,  and  readers  of  the 
Atlantic  were  eagerly  awaiting  the  promised  romance, 
when  he  wrote  sadly  to  his  publisher:  "I  know  pretty 
well  what  the  case  will  be.  I  shall  never  finish  it.  " 
A  few  weeks  later  he  attempted  a  trip  to  the  White 
Mountains  with  his  devoted  friend,  Franklin  Pierce, 
and  died  suddenly  at  Plymouth,  May  18,  1864. 

The  life  of  Hawthorne  was  singularly  pure  and 
beautiful,  and  it  was  a  happy  life,  although  to  the 
outer  world  it  seemed  austere,  morbid,  and  melan 
choly.  He  had  the  sensitive,  thoughtful,  brooding 


196  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

temperament  of  Hamlet,  easily  impressed  and  bur 
dened  by  the  jarring  of  sin  in  the  world.  A  natural 
Personal  tendency  to  shyness  and  silence  was  in- 
Quaiities  creased  by  his  early  habits  of  study  and 
by  the  unsocial  life  of  his  family.  "A  cloudy  veil 
stretches  across  the  abyss  of  my  nature.  I  have,  how 
ever,  no  love  of  secrecy  and  darkness."  Indeed,  accord 
ing  to  his  friend  Fields,  though  the  humorous  side 
of  his  nature  was  not  often  discernible,  he  could  be 
"  marvelously  moved  to  fun."  He  loved  children  de 
votedly,  entering  sympathetically  into  their  lives,  and 
wrote  stories  for  them  that  have  been  classic  from  the 
day  of  their  publication.  "  He  was  a  man  of  rare 
courtesy  and  kindliness  in  personal  intercourse,"  says 
Curtis,  "  mostly  silent  in  society,  and  speaking  alwa}Ts 
with  an  appearance  of  effort,  but  with  a  lambent  light 
of  delicate  humor  playing  over  all  he  said." 

The  art  of  a  supreme  artist  like  Hawthorne  baffles 
attempts  at  analysis.  His  perfect  workmanship  leaves 
no  tool  marks  by  which  to  trace  its  processes.  Some 
things  are  obvious,  yet  without  the  definiteness  that 
attaches  to  the  qualities  of  ordinary  authors.  It  is 
clear  that  his  mind  works  most  naturally  in  the  region 
Artistic  °f  the  ideal  and  spiritual,  yet  he  is  as 

Qualities  minute  an  observer  as  any  realist  of  the 
Balzac  cult.  His  imagination  is  like  "  tricksy  Ariel/' 
pure,  delicate,  sensitive,  yearning  for  the  freedom  of 
the  upper  air,  while  bound  to  earth  to  serve  mankind. 
This  fine  balancing  of  the  ideal  and  real  is  a  conspicu- 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  197 

cms  part  of  his  genius.  His  thought  runs  most  readily 
into  symbolism,  allegory,  apologue,  but  the  form  is 
never  stiff  and  mechanical.  His  artistic  taste  is  per 
fect.  It  keeps  his  work  always  within  the  bounds  of 
the  beautiful ;  there  is  no  offense  of  extravagance  and 
vulgarity,  110  questionable  sensationalism.  It  selects 
language  of  Saxon  strength,  without  Saxon  coarseness. 
Without  affectation  or  weakness  it  mingles  with  prose 
the  grace  and  rhythm  of  poetry.  It  permits  him  to 
preach,  without  revealing  the  preacher.  It  restrains 
his  imagination  at  the  borderland  of  wholesome  im 
agery  ;  Hawthorne  never  enters  the  "  ghoul-haunted 
woodlands  of  Weir,"  where  Foe's  imagination  loved 
to  dwell.  His  delightful  fancies  "  never  leave  a  stain 
upon  the  imagination,"  says  Leslie  Stephen,  "  and 
generally  succeed  in  throwing  a  harmonious  coloring 
upon  some  objects  in  which  we  had  previously  failed 
to  recognize  the  beautiful."  Fields  is  right  in  saying 
that  his  writings  "  never  soiled  the  public  mind  with 
one  unlovely  image." 

A  graceful  and  charming  style  would  seem  to  have 
been  a  part  of  Hawthorne's  natural  endowment,  yet 
he  once  said  that  it  was  merely  "  the  result  of  a  great 
deal  of  practice."     Slightly  self-conscious 
in  the  early  tales,  it  becomes  in  the  larger 
works  rich,  free,   and  spontaneous,  transmitting  the 
most   delicate    shades    of    thought   and   feeling  with 
marvelous  precision.     It  is  as  clear  and  beautiful  as 
the  water  of  a  mountain  brook  filled  with  sunshine. 


198  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

P ervading  it,  too,  like  the  odor  of  flowers,  is  a  quiet, 
evasive  humor;  and  here  and  there  the  odor  is  pun 
gent,  the  humor  is  sharpened  to  a  satiric  edge.  In 
the  sketch  of  "  The  Custom  House,"  intended  as  a 
relief  to  the  gloom  of  "  The  Scarlet  Letter,"  the  happy 
play  of  airy  and  piquant  humor  suggested  to  Curtis 
"the  warbling  of  bobolinks  before  a  thunderstorm." 
Hawthorne's  theme,  the  problem  of  sin,  was  an  in 
heritance  from  his  ancestors.  He  had  no  spiritual 
sympathy  with  puritanism,  but  his  interest  was  dom 
inated  by  it ;  his  imagination  was  held  captive  by 
the  New  England  conscience.  "  The  unwilling  poet 
Burden  of  °f  puritanism,"  Lowell  calls  him.  It  is  a 
his  Thought  favorite  method  with  critics,  when  account 
ing  for  the  limited  product  of  American  genius  in  the 
highest  forms  of  literature,  to  magnify  the  uninspir 
ing  elements  of  American  life  and  scenery.  The 
imagination,  it  is  said,  cannot  thrive  where  everything 
is  in  sharp  outline,  glaringly  new  and  obtrusive,  where 
there  is  no  picturesqueness,  no  historic  atmosphere, 
no  distant  background  of  legend  and  romance.  Haw 
thorne  himself  complained  of  the  difficulty  of  making 
literature  out  of  "  commonplace  prosperity  in  broad 
and  simple  daylight."  That  he  was  deceived  in 
respect  to  his  environment  is  shown  by  the  manner 
in  which  he  transformed  this  intractable  material 
into  fictions  of  incomparable  beauty  and  imperishable 
interest.  By  the  magic  touch  of  his  fancy  he  invested 
the  hard  New  England  history  with  a  glamour  of 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  199 

mystery  as  romantic  as  ever  rested  upon  ivy-mantled 
ruins  of  the  Old  World.  For  this  reason  his  stories 
are  romances,  rather  than  novels.  He  cares  less  for 
plot  and  action,  and  more  for  atmosphere,  feeling,  and 
the  silent  unveiling  of  souls. 

The  early  writings, contained  in  "Twice-told  Tales" 
and  "  Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse,"  are  of  three 
classes.  There  are  allegorical  fantasies,  like  "  Young 
Goodman  Brown "  and  "  Rappaccini's  Daughter." 
Some  of  these  are  spun  out  of  the  dainti-  The  Early 
est  material  of  pure  fancy,  as  "  The  Snow  Tales 
Image"  and  "The  Great  Carbuncle."  Next  are  the 
historical  tales,  "  myths  and  mysteries  of  old  Massa 
chusetts,"  such  as  "The  Maypole  of  Merry  Mount," 
"The  Gray  Champion,"  and  the  "Legends  of  the 
Province  House."  And  finally,  the  graceful  little 
sketches  of  real  scenes,  as  "  A  Rill  from  the  Town 
Pump,"  "Main  Street,"  "The  Village  Uncle,"  and 
"The  Toll-Gatherer's  Day."  In  this  early  work  we 
find  all  of  Hawthorne's  distinctive  qualities  of  style 
and  theme ;  "  the  quiet  ease  is  there,  the  pellucid  lan 
guage,  the  haunting  quality."  But  the  finish  of  per 
fection  was  yet  to  be  added.  The  best  criticism  of  these 
tales  is  that  of  Hawthorne  himself:  "They  have  the 
pale  tint  of  flowers  that  blossomed  in  too  retired  a 
shade."  There  is  not  enough  real  flesh  and  blood  in 
them.  Their  natural  beauty  is  often  like  that  of 
caverns  as  revealed  for  a  moment  by  the  glare  of  the 
explorer's  torch. 


200  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

"  The  Scarlet  Letter "  is  generally  regarded  as 
Hawthorne's  masterpiece.  In.  its  clear  insight  into 
the  elemental  passions  of  human  nature,  in  its  power 
to  lay  bare  the  deepest  recesses  of  the  heart  and  soul, 
it  is  supreme.  The  analysis  is  as  minute  as  an  ex 
periment  in  psychology.  The  abiding,  hopeless,  burn 
ing  retribution  of  sin  is  its  theme.  The  interest  is 
enthralling,  the  gloom  is  tragic.  The  flaming  letter 
that  symbolizes  Hester  Prynne's  shame  brands  itself 
upon  the  reader's  consciousness  almost  as  relentlessly 
The  Great  as  upon  the  guilty  breast  of  Arthur  Dim- 
Romances  mesdale.  "The  soul-struggles  of  four 
human  beings,  against  the  background  of  stern  right 
eousness  and  witch-superstition,  are  painted  in  hues 
of  purple  and  black,  with  rays  of  nature's  sunshine 
and  childish  innocence  stealing  across."  In  "  The 
House  of  Seven  Gables "  the  blighting  effects  of 
hereditary  sin  are  presented.  Of  the  four  great 
romances,  this  is  the  most  popular,  and  is  nearest  like 
the  novel  of  manners.  The  scene  of  the  story  is  old 
Salem.  Although  its  atmosphere  is  filled  with  au 
tumnal  haze,  there  is  cheer  and  brightness  in  it, 
variety  and  breadth  of  human  interest,  delicious 
humor  and  strong  characterization.  Henry  James  is 
inclined  to  think  that  it  is  "  the  closest  approacli  we 
are  likely  to  have  to  the  great  work  of  fiction  so  often 
called  for,  that  is  to  do  us  nationally  most  honor 
and  most  good.'' 1  "  The  Blithedale  Romance  "  is  a 
1  "Library  of  the  World's  Best  Literature." 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  201 

splendid  memorial  of  the  Brook  Farm  experiment. 
With  an  imagination  free  from  the  restraint  of  any 
historic  intent,  Hawthorne  describes  the  life  of  the 
reformers  as  he  saw  it  and  judged  it  during  his  own 
unsatisfactory  experience  among  them.  It  is  full  of 
fresh  New  World  life  and  scenery,  often  idyllic  in  the 
grace  and  beauty  of  its  outdoor  pictures.  The  interest 
centers  in  the  beautiful  and  brilliant  Zenobia,  a  superb 
creation,  and  Hawthorne's  finest  woman  character. 
The  richest  of  the  romances  in  descriptive  beauty  is 
"  The  Marble  Faun,"  which  has  for  background  the 
majesty  of  Rome.  The  imperial  city  with  its  decaying 
splendor  exercised  a  powerful  fascination  upon  Haw 
thorne,  which,  by  the  wonderful  witchery  of  his  pen, 
he  in  turn  communicates  to  his  readers.  Interwoven 
Avith  beautiful  descriptions  of  art  and  nature,  a  slender 
thread  of  narrative  sustains  the  moral  purpose  of  the 
book.  Hawthorne  here  treats  the  problem  of  evil  in 
its  broadest  and  profoundest  aspect,  seeking  an  ex 
planation  of  the  existence  and  purpose  of  sin  through 
the  unfolding  of  its  mysterious  transforming  power. 
Donatello  is  a  symbolic  expression  of  the  evolution  of 
a  human  soul. 

Hawthorne's  rank  as  an  author  is  among  those  few 
whose  right  it  is  to  stand  above  all  planes  of  compari 
son.  In  Lowell's  judgment  he  possessed  "the  rarest 
creative  imagination  of  the  century,  the  rarest  in  some 
ideal  respects  since  Shakspere."  Says  Bayard  Tay 
lor  :  "  In  all  the  higher  literary  qualities,  in  all  that 


202  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

constitutes  creative  genius,  lie  is  indisputably  the 
first.  He  found  his  own  field  of  labor,  like  Cooper, 
but  is  entitled  to  higher  honors  as  a  discoverer,  inas 
much  as  that  field  was  loftier  and  more  remote.  His 
style  is  no  less  limpid  than  that  of  Irving,  and  is  the 
more  attractive,  in  so  far  as  it  betrays  the  proportions 
of  no  model  and  the  manner  of  no  former  period.  He 
is  at  once  the  rarest  and  purest  growth  of  the  intel 
lectual  and  social  soil  from  which  he  sprang.  He  is 
Critical  "°t  onty  American,  but  no  other  race  or 

Estimates  time  could  possibly  have  produced  him."  l 
Of  his  peculiar  power  Leslie  Stephen  says :  "  Xo 
modern  writer  has  the  same  skill  in  so  using  the  mar 
velous  as  to  interest  without  unduly  exciting  our 
credulity.  He  makes,  indeed,  no  positive  demands 
on  our  credulity.  The  strange  influences  which  are 
suggested  rather  than  obtruded  upon  us  are  kept  in 
the  background,  so  as  not  to  invite,  nor  indeed  to  ren 
der  possible  the  application  of  scientific  tests.  He 
catches  dim  glimpses  of  the  laws  which  bring  out 
strange  harmonies,  but  on  the  whole,  tend  rather  to 
deepen  than  to  clear  the  mysteries.  He  loves  the 
marvelous,  not  in  the  vulgar  sense  of  the  word,  but 
as  a  symbol  of  the  perplexity  which  encounters  every 
thoughtful  man  in  his  journey  through  life."  Hutton 
says  of  his  literary  method :  "  His  characters  are  real 
and  definitely  outlined,  but  they  are  all  seen  in  a 
single  light  —  the  contemplative  light  of  the  particu- 
" l  Essays  and  Notes,"  p.  354. 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  203 

lar  idea  which  has  floated  before  him  in  each  of  his 
stories  —  and  they  are  seen,  not  fully  and  in  their 
integrity,  as  things  are  seen  by  daylight,  but  like 
things  touched  by  moonlight  —  only  so  far  as  they  are 
lighted  up  by  the  idea  of  the  story.  The  thread  of 
unity  which  connects  his  tales  is  always  some  pervad 
ing  thought  of  his  own ;  they  are  not  written  mainly 
to  display  character,  still  less  for  the  mere  narrative 
interest,  but  for  the  illustration  they  cast  on  some 
idea  or  conviction  of  their  author's.  His  novels  are 
not  novels  in  the  ordinary  sense ;  they  are  ideal  situa 
tions  expanded  by  minute  study  and  trains  of  clear, 
pale  thought  into  the  dimensions  of  novels." 

Class  Study. —  Twice-told  Tales:  The  Gray  Champion;  A 
Rill  from  the  Town  Pump  ;  'The  Great  Carbuncle  ;  VDr.  Hei 
degger's  Experiment  ;  The  Village  Uncle  ;  Snowflakes ;  The 
Threefold  Destiny. 

Snow  Image  and  Other  Ticice-told  Tales:  The  Snow 
Image  ;VThe  Great  Stone  Face  ;  Main  Street ;  Little  Daffy  - 
downdilly.  y  ^J 

Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse:  The  Old  Manse  ;  Rappaccini's 
Daughter  ;  Birds  and  Bird-Voices  ;  Young  Goodman  Brown. 

Class  Discussion. — The  House  of  Seven  Gables,  or  The 
Marble  Faun. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Julian  Hawthorne's  "Nathaniel 
Hawthorne  and  his  Wife."  Lathrop's  "  Study  of  Hawthorne." 
Rose  Hawthorne  Lathrop's  "Memories  of  Hawthorne." 
Bridge's  "Recollections  of  Hawthorne."  Henry  James's 
"Nathaniel  Hawthorne"  (English  Men  of  Letters).  Conway's 
"Nathaniel  Hawthorne"  (Great  Writers)  and  "Emerson  at 
Home  and  Abroad,"  chap.  24.  Mrs.  Fields's  "  Nathaniel  Haw 
thorne  "  (Beacon  Biographies).  Fields's  "Yesterdays  with 


204  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Authors."  Howe's  "  American  Bookmen."  Curtis's  "  Liter 
ary  and  Social  Essays"  and  "From  the  Easy  Chair,"  3d 
series.  Leslie  Stephen's  "  Hours  in  a  Library,"  1st  series. 
Hutton's  "Literary  Essays."  Johnson's  "Three  Englishmen 
and  Three  Americans."  Gates's  "  Studies  and  Appreciations." 
Higginson's  "  Short  Studies  of  American  Authors."  Whipple's 
"  Character  and  Characteristic  Men,"  and  "American  Litera 
ture."  Richardson's  "American  Literature,"  Vol.11.  Nichol's 
"American  Literature."  Howells's  "Literary  Heroines," 
Vol.1.  Foe's  "Literati."  Welsh's  "  Development  of  English 
Literature." 

Poets'  Tributes. — Lowell's  "Fable  for  Critics"  and 
" Agassiz."  Longfellow's  "Hawthorne,"  Stedman's  "Haw 
thorne."  Gilder's  "  Hawthorne  in  Berkshire." 

Among  the  Transcendentalists  must  be  numbered  the  gifted 
woman,  Margaret  Fuller,  who  has  generally  been  regarded  as 
the  original  of  Hawthorne's  "Zenobia"  in  the  "Blithedale  Ro 
mance,"  and  whose  name  has  maintained  a  prominence  dispro 
portionate  to  the  value  of  her  books.  She  was  one  of  the  first 
Margaret  to  establish  the  right  of  women  to  stand  intel- 
Fuller,  lectually  with  men.  She  edited  the  Dial,  the 

1810-1850  organ  of  Transcendentalism,  gave  brilliant  "con 
versation  "  lectures  in  Boston,  and  entered  actively  into  the 
reform  movements  of  the  period,  —  temperance,  antislavery,  and 
higher  education  for  women.  In  1846  she  went  to  Italy,  aided 
Mazzini  in  his  revolution,  and  married  the  Marquis  Ossoli. 
When  returning  she  was  drowned  with  her  husband  and  child 
within  sight  of  her  native  land.  The  books  written  about  this 
remarkable  woman  are  now  more  interesting  than  her  own 
writings '(Lives  by  Higginson  and  Mrs.  Howe),  although  her 
"  Woman  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  "  is  a  valuable  landmark 
in  the  history  of  woman's  progress.  She  furnished  some  of  the 
intellectual  yeast  of  the  period,  the  effects  of  which  were  seen 
in  the  works  of  others  rather  than  in  her  own. 

The  most  visionary  and  mystical  of  the  Concord  group  was 
Amos  Bronson  Alcott,  whose  "Orphic  Sayings"  proved  too 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  205 

difficult  sometimes  for  the  comprehension  even  of  the  elect. 
He  conducted  a  school  in  Boston  on  the  peculiar  principle  of 
vicarious    punishment,   renounced    animal    food,    Amos  Bron- 
worked  in  the  field  to  prove  the  dignity  of  labor,    son  Alcott, 
and  lived  in  a  singularly  exalted  way  the  pure  life    1799-1888 
of  the  soul.     His  "Tablets,"  "Concord  Days,"  and  "Sonnets 
and  Canzonets  "  contain  what  wisdom  and  beauty  he  had  to 
bequeath  to  his  fellow-men.     His  chief  influence,  as  Higginson 
suggests,  was  "atmospheric,"  an  emanation  from  his  benign 
face  and  pure  life.      It  was  this  influence  that  gave  a  kind  of 
spiritual  potency  to  his  last  achievement,  the  Concord  School 
of  Philosophy. 

Alcott  was  not  unlike  Chaucer's  Clerk  :  — 

But  al  be  that  he  was  a  philosophre, 
Yet  hadde  he  but  litel  gold  in  cofre, 

and  his  search  for  the  infinite  proved  to  be  a  frequent  embar 
rassment  to  his  family  in  respect  to  finite  things.  The  task  of 
keeping  the  balance  adjusted  between  the  practical  and  the 
ideal  fell  to  the  talented  daughter  Louisa.  At  seventeen  her 
struggle  began  ;  she  tried  teaching,  sewing,  going  Louisa  May 
out  to  service,  and  writing  stories  for  the  news-  Alcott, 
papers.  Her  first  book,  "Flower  Fables,"  was  '833-1888 
written  at  sixteen  for  the  children  of  Emerson  and  her  own 
sisters.  A  year  of  service  as  army  nurse  resulted  in  "  Hospital 
Sketches."  After  years  of  discouraging  toil  her  success  was  es 
tablished  with  "Little  Women"  and  its  sequel  "Little  Men." 
These  and  other  juvenile  tales  founded  on  her  own  family  life, 
made  her  the  most  popular  writer  for  children  in  her  genera 
tion.  Her  style  is  careless  and  commonplace,  but  there  is  a 
charm  of  freshness,  naturalness,  humor,  clear-sighted  sympa 
thy  with  healthy  boys  and  girls,  and.  a  wholesome  gospel  of 
work  and  simple  living,  that  win  the  young,  and  compel  the 
old  to  become  young  again. 

Among  the  minor  poets  affected  by  the  Concord  influence 
was  Jones  Very  (1813-1880),  "a  sort  of  Unitarian  monk  and 
mystic,"  whose  "  Essays  and  Poems,"  first  published  in  1839, 


206  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

contains  a  series  of  sonnets  remarkable  for  their  clear  spiritu 
ality  and  delicate  conception,  expressing  "the  serene,  sure 

beauty  of  churchyard  lilies."  Among  the  Brook- 
Minor  Tran-  Farmers  was  Christopher  Pearse  Cranch  (1813- 
Poets  1892),  whose  "Poems,"  "Translation  of  the 

^Eneid,"  and  "Ariel  and  Caliban,"  still  hold  his 
name  in  honor.  The  readers  of  the  Dial  looked  for  great  things 
from  William  Ellery  Channing  (1818-1901),  a  nephew  of  the 
great  divine,  in  whom  Emerson  was  much  interested,  and 
whose  verses  Carlyle  pronounced  "worthy  indeed  of  reading." 
Associated  with  this  group  by  the  serious  import  of  her  work 
was  Helen  Hunt  Jackson  ("  H.  H.")  (1831-1885),  whose 
poetry  "unquestionably  takes  rank,"  says  Higginson,  "above 
that  of  any  other  American  woman,  and  its  only  rival  would 
be  found,  curiously  enough,  in  that  of  her  early  schoolmate, 
Emily  Dickinson."  She  is  better  known,  however,  by  her 
"Bits  of  Travel"  and  other  similar  fragmentary  descriptions 
and  reflective  essays  in  little,  and  by  "A  Century  of  Dishonor" 
and  the  powerful  novel  "Ramona"  (1884),  written  in  the 
white  heat  of  indignation  at  the  wrongs  of  the  Indian. 
Another  belated  Transcendentalist  was  Edward  Roland  Sill 
(1841-1887),  a  scholar  and  idealist,  whose  two  little  volumes  of 
verse  contain  a  philosophy,  expressed  often  with  great  beauty, 
that  asserts  the  triumph  of  spirit  over  flesh  with  a  confidence 
that,  in  a  period  of  eager  materialism,  is  stimulating  and 
helpful . 

HISTORICAL   BACKGROUND 

Frothingham's  "Boston  Unitarianism,"  "History  of  New 
England  Transcendentalism,"  and  "Life  of  George  Ripley." 
John  Thomas  Codman's  "  Brook  Farm  ;  Historic  and  Personal 
Memoirs."  Emerson's  "New  England  Reformers"  and  "The 
Transcendentalist."  Louisa  M.  Alcott's  "Transcendental  Wild 
Oats"  (Silver  Pitchers).  Bradford's  "Reminiscences  of  Brook 
Farm"  (Century,  November,  1892).  W.  H.  Channing's  "Me 
moirs  of  William  Ellery  Channing."  Higginson's  -'Life  of 


iv]  TRANSCENDENTALISM  207 

Margaret  Fuller"  (American  Men  of  Letters).  Hawthorne's 
"American  Note  Books."  Channing's  "Works,"  Vol.  Ill 
("  Unitarian  Christianity  ").  Nichol's  "  American  Literature," 
chap.  8.  Swift's  "Brook  Farm;  Its  Members,  Scholars,  and 
Visitors."  Frank  Preston  Stearns's  "  Sketches  from  Concord 
and  Appledore."  Winsor's  "Memorial  History  of  Boston," 
Vol.  III.  Wendell's  "Literary  History  of  America,"  Bk.  V. 
Higginson's  "Cheerful  Yesterdays"  and  "Contemporaries." 
Chadwick's  "Theodore  Parker,  Preacher  and  Reformer." 
Caroline  W.  Healey's  "Margaret  and  her  Friends."  Cheney's 
"Louisa  M.  Alcott:  Her  Life,  Letters,  and  Journals."  Julia 
Ward  Howe's  "Life  of  Margaret  Fuller."  Lowell's  "Elegy 
on  the  Death  of  Dr.  Channing,"  Whittier's  "  Channing." 


CHAPTER   V 

THE   ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT 

LITERATURE  springs  up  naturally  along  the  high 
ways  of  great  national  movements.  Much  of  such 
literature  possesses  only  a  transient  interest,  and  is 
swept  away  with  the  dust  and  refuse  left  by  the  pro 
cession  of  events;  but  some  of  it  has  a  permanent 
vitality,  because  it  embodies  in  artistic  form  princi 
ples  and  passions  of  permanent  and  universal  interest. 
During  the  period  from  1830  to  1865  two  movements 
affecting  our  national  life,  merging  finally  into  one 
and  culminating  in  the  Civil  War,  produced  their  own 
interpretative  literary  records. 

The  Constitution  was  hardly  established  before  the 
long  contest  began  over  its  provisions  respecting  the 
liberties  of  the  states.  Patrick  Henry  had  sounded 
the  "  state  rights  "  alarm,  and  the  spirit  of  disaffection 
was  spread  through  the  South  by  the  brilliant,  eccen 
tric,  half-mad  John  Randolph,  who  prepared  the  way 

Nullification  for  John  Cl  Calnoun>  author  and  mighty 
and  Aboii  defender  of  the  South  Carolina  doctrine  of 
"Nullification."  At  the  North  the  party 
supporting  the  authority  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
integrity  of  the  Union  was  under  the  divided  leader- 

208 


CHAP,  v]        THE    ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT  209 

ship  of  Henry  Clay  and  Daniel  Webster.  The  great 
question  at  issue  was  whether  the  Constitution  estab 
lished  a  union  or  a  confederacy,  a  centralized  govern 
ment  or  a  league  of  sovereign  states.  Underlying 
the  whole  controversy,  and  disturbing  the  conscience 
as  well  as  the  reason  of  both  parties,  was  the  hateful 
question  of  slavery.  To  make  war  directly  upon  this 
institution,  the  abolition  movement  was  inaugurated 
by  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  who,  in  1831,  began  pub 
lishing  the  Liberator  in  Boston  with  the  memorable 
challenge  that  startled  the  conservative  self-interest 
and  prejudice  of  the  whole  nation,  "  I  will  be  as  harsh 
as  truth  and  as  uncompromising  as  justice,"  and  "I 
will  be  heard." 

Forensic  debate,  however  brilliant  and  impressive 
politically,  seldom,  produces  literature.  The  dry  light 
of  the  reason  cannot  alone  give  lasting  vitality  to 
rhetorical  art ;  the  intellect  must  be  touched  and  tem 
pered  by  emotion,  and  the  thought  must  be  illuminated 
by  the  imagination.  Of  all  the  masterly  eloquence 
poured  forth  in  Congress  during  a  period  of  forty 
years,  hardly  any  literary  evidence  remains  except 
the  few  great  speeches  of  Webster.  The  keen,  logical 
arguments  of  Calhoun,  and  the  magnetic,  politics  and 
persuasive  speeches  of  Clay,  are  all  lost  in  Literature 
the  common  oblivion  of  Congressional  "  documents." 
The  powerful  personality  of  these  remarkable  leaders 
was  not  transferred  to  their  words.  Webster  alone 
had  the  genius  so  to  clothe  his  arguments  with 


210  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

thought  and  sentiment,  and  lift  them  from  the  arid 
plain  of  political  controversy  into  the  realm  of  art 
as  to  endow  them  with  immortality.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  substance  of  the  abolition  movement  was 
an  ardent,  devoted  sentiment  of  reform,  sustained  by 
moral  ideals  and  a  desperate  intensity  of  purpose  that 
led  the  participants  to  every  extreme  of  obloquy,  pov 
erty,  self-sacrifice,  and  martyrdom.  While  the  cause 
of  the  Constitution  was  making  magnificent  debaters, 
the  cause  of  slavery  was  making  impassioned  orators 
and  poets. 

The  period  represented  by  Webster  may  be  called 
the  third  period  of  American  eloquence.  In  some 
respects  the  public  speaking  of  this  period  was  supe 
rior  to  that  of  the  Revolutionary  epoch.  The  best 
orations  were  more  elaborate,  artistic,  and  learned, 
successfully  simulating  the  grace  and  dignity  of 

classical   oratory.      They   were    generally 
Oratory  of 

the  Webster  carefully  written  and  corrected  before  de 
livery  and  publication.  But  the  broader 
tendency  was  toward  a  shallow,  bombastic  style,  the 
boastful  "  spread-eagle  "  style  of  Fourth-of-July  occa 
sions,  and  of  "  the  member  from  Buncombe  County/' 
Says  Bryce:  "Public  taste,  which  was  high  .in  the 
days  after  the  Revolution,  when  it  was  formed  and 
controlled  by  a  small  number  of  educated  men,  began 
to  degenerate  in  the  first  half  of  this  century.  De 
spite  the  influence  of  several  orators  of  the  first  rank, 
incessant  stump  speaking  and  the  inordinate  vanity 


v]  THE    ANTISLAVERY    MOVEMENT  211 

of  the  average  audience  brought  a  florid  or  inflated 
style  into  fashion,  which  became  an  easy  mark  for 
European  satire." l 

Formal  oratory  in  America  practically  came  to  an 
end  with  the  Civil  War.  Formerly  the  people  looked 
to  the  orator  and  statesman  for  instruction  and  guid 
ance  in  respect  to  public  affairs,  but  these  functions 
are  now  usurped  by  the  ubiquitous  newspaper.  Public 
speaking  assumes  more  and  more  the  character  of  a 
popular  entertainment,  of  which  instruction  is  only 
an  incidental  feature. 

The  orators  of  this  period  may  be  classified  accord 
ing  to  their  attitude  toward  slavery.  John  Randolph, 
John  C.  Calhoun,  and  Robert  Y.  Hayne  represented 
the  extreme  Southern  demands.  Henry  Clay,  Daniel 
Webster,  Edward  Everett,  Rufus  Choate,  and  Robert 
C.  Winthrop  were  moderate  opponents  of^  Three 
slavery  who  deprecated  the  evil  and  re-  GrouPs 
sisted  its  extension,  but  refrained  from  direct  attack 
upon  the  "  institution,"  lest  it  should  imperil  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union.  In  opposition  to  these, 
the  radical,  sometimes  fanatical,  Abolitionists,  with 
their  high  ideals,  hot  enthusiasm,  and  irresistible 
earnestness,  were  led  by  William  Lloyd  Garrison, 
Wendell  Phillips,  Charles  Sumner,  and  Abraham  Lin 
coln.  The  speeches  of  nearly  all  of  these  illustrious 
men  have  literary  qualities  that  are  well  worth  study 
ing,  but  they  have  not  the  literary  greatness  that  is 
1  James  Bryce,  "  The  American  Commonwealth,"  Vol.  II,  p.  052. 


212 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE 


[CHAP. 


necessary  to  long  life.  The  orations  of  Webster,  how 
ever,  and  two  at  least  of  Lincoln's  addresses,  belong 
preeminently  to  both  the  literary  and  the  political  his 
tory  of  America. 

DANIEL    WEBSTER 
1782-1852 

Daniel  Webster  was   born   on.  a  Xew  Hampshire 
farm,  January  18,  1782.     He  was  a  delicate  child,  and 

was  not  put  to 
hard  work,  but  he 
early  showed  an 
insatiable  thirst 
for  knowledge, 
reading  every 
thing  that  came 
in  his  way,  and 
committing  to 
memory  large 
portions  of  what 
he  read.  This 
manifest  talent 
for  books  deter 
mined  his  father, 
in  spite  of  meager 
means,  to  give 
him  an  education;  accordingly  the  boy  prepared  for 
Dartmouth  College,  and  was  graduated  in  1801.  At 
school  he  was  too  timid  to  stand  up  and  "speak 


Daniel  Webster 


v]  THE   ANTISLAVEKY   MOVEMENT  213 

pieces  "  in  the  usual  manner,  but  revealed  his  native 
eloquence  among  the  neighboring  farmers,  who  would 
listen  to  his  recitations  from  the  Bible  and 

Education 

the  poets,  fascinated  by  the  charms  of  his 

dee})  lustrous  eyes,  and  the  already  rich  and  melodious 

intonations  of  his  voice. 

At  college  he  attracted  attention  for  his  quick  per 
ceptions,  tenacious  memory,  and  power  of  clear  and 
convincing  statement,  qualities  that  readily  secured  to 
him  a  position  of  superiority  among  his  fellows. 
He  overcame  his  diffidence  in  public  speaking,  and  so 
general  was  the  recognition  of  his  oratorical  powers 
that  the  citizens  of  Hanover  invited  him  to  deliver  a 
Fourth-of-July  oration.  It  is  remarkable  that  in  this 
boyish  speech  are  found  the  essential  principles,  clearly 
stated,  that  governed  his  life-work  as  a  statesman. 

After  a  brief  period  of  teaching,  to  help  his  brother 
through  college,  Webster  began  the  study  of  law ;  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1805,  and  finally  settled  in 
Portsmouth,  where  he  rose  rapidly  in  his  profession. 
In  1813  he  was  sent  to  Congress,  and  at  The 
the  close  of  his  second  term  he  resumed  the  Lawyer 
practice  of  law,  having  in  the  meantime  removed  his 
residence  to  Boston.  The  celebrated  "  Dartmouth 
College  Case,"  which  he  argued  before  the  Supreme 
Court  at  Washington,  in  1818,  gave  him  national  fame 
as  one  of  the  greatest  of  constitutional  lawyers.  The 
simple  language,  charged  with  intense  feeling,  with 
which  the  argument  closed,  was  so  effective  as  to 


214  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

bring  tears  to  the  eyes  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall. 
"  It  is,  sir,  as  I  have  said,  a  small  college.  And  yet 
there  are  those  who  love  it."  Such  words  as  these, 
uttered  with  quivering  lips  and  voice  tremulous  with 
emotion,  were  more  powerful  than  argument. 

Webster's  reputation  as  an  orator  was  established 
by  an  oration  delivered  at  Plymouth,  in  1820,  com 
memorating  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
landing  of  the  Pilgrims.  The  address  was  published 
and  received  with  wide  enthusiasm.  "  It  had  more 
literary  success,"  says  his  biographer,  "  than  anything 
which  had  at  that  time  appeared,  except  from  the  pen 
of  Washington  Irving.  The  public,  without  stopping 
to  analyze  their  own  feelings,  or  the  oration  itself, 
recognized  at  once  that  a  new  genius  had  come  before 
The  them,  a  man  endowed  with  the  noble  gift 

orator  of  eloquence,  and  capable  by  the  exercise 

of  his  talents  of  moving  and  inspiring  great  masses 
of  his  fellow-men."  The  fame  obtained  from  this 
achievement  was  increased  by  the  address,  in  1825,  at 
the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  Bunker  Hill  monu 
ment,  and  again  the  next  year  by  the  commemorative 
discourse  upon  Adams  and  Jefferson.  These  orations, 
with  the  "  Second  Bunker  Hill  Oration,"  must  always 
be  numbered  among  American  classics.  The  oration 
upon  Adams  and  Jefferson  contains  the  familiar  "  sup 
posed  "  speech  of  John  Adams,  beginning,  "  Sink  or 
swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish,  I  give  my  hand 
and  my  heart  to  this  vote." 


v]  THE   ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT  215 

Webster  returned  to  Congress  in  1823,  and  the  rest 
of  his  years  were  spent  in  the  public  service.  He  en 
tered  the  Senate  in  1827  and  reached  the  zenith  of 
his  oratorical  and  political  reputation  in  the  remark 
able  speech,  January  26,  1830,  known  as  the  "  Reply 
to  Hayne.''  Calhoun,  the  "  great  nullifier,"  was  in  the 
vice-president's  chair;  the  elaborate  and  ingenious 
system  of  arguments  evolved  by  his  acute  mind  for 
severing  the  Union  by  constitutional  au-  The  <.  Reply 
thority  was  unfolded  by  his  lieutenant,  to  Hayne 
Robert  Y.  Hayne.  Idealizing  the  peril  to  the  Union, 
arising  from  the  specious  doctrine  of  "  state  rights," 
Webster  summoned  all  his  splendid  powers  for  a  reply 
and  made  a  triumphant  defense  of  the  Constitution, 
which  delayed  the  inevitable  conflict  for  thirty  years. 
Its  closing  words,  "Liberty  and  Union,  now  and 
forever,  one  and  inseparable,"  have  ever  since  served 
as  the  rallying  cry  of  patriots.  "  For  genuine  oratori 
cal  power,"  says  Fiske,  "  the  Reply  to  Hayne  is  prob 
ably  the  greatest  speech  that  has  been  delivered  since 
the  oration  of  Demosthenes  on  the  Crown.  .  .  .  Prob 
ably  no  other  speech  ever  made  in  Congress  has  found 
so  many  readers,  or  exerted  so  much  influence  in  giving 
shape  to  men's  thoughts." 

In  1833  Calhoun  became  senator  in  Hayne's  place, 
and  for  seventeen  years  continued  the  contest  with 
Webster  over  the  Constitution.  Twice  Webster  was 
called  to  the  office  of  secretary  of  state,  and  per 
formed  the  duties  of  the  position  with  great  skill  and 


216  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

credit.  There  was  one  more  exalted  position,  the 
highest  honor  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  to  which  he 
now  aspired.  Ambition,  that  "  last  infirmity  of  noble 
minds,"  the  desire  to  be  president,  so  colored  his  last 
years  as  to  detract  much  from  the  clear  glory  of  re 
nown  with  which  his  countrymen  would  have  crowned 
him,  as  the  noblest  reward  for  his  illustrious  services. 

Statesman   though   he  was,  he  could  not 
The  Seventh 

of  March  wholly  rise  above  the  politician.  His  last 
great  speech,  "  On  the  Constitution  and 
the  Union,"  delivered  in  the  Senate,  March  7th,  1850, 
has  generally  been  regarded  as  an  attempt  to  con 
ciliate  the  South  by  accepting  the  compromise  meas 
ures  of  Clay,  including  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  so 
odious  to  the  North.  At  the  South  the  speech  gained 
for  him  not  one  vote ;  at  the  North  it  was  received 
with  astonishment,  indignation,  and  sorrow.  He  had 
proved  false,  so  it  seemed,  to  himself,  to  his  friends, 
and  to  his  country.  The  terrible  denunciation  of 
Whittier's  poem  "  Ichabod  "  represented  the  feeling 
of  the  large  body  of  people  then  enlisted  in  the 
antislavery  movement.  This  poem  is  said  to  have 
"  wounded  the  great  heart  of  its  subject  more  than 
any  other  stroke  that  ever  smote  his  mighty  fore 
head."  l  His  desire  to  preserve  the  Union,  the  heart's 
desire  of  his  whole  life,  may  have  induced  him,  as  his 
apologists  maintain,  to  make  all  possible  sacrifices ; 
even  so,  his  chief  sacrifice  was  himself.  The  technical 
1  George  F.  Hoar,  Scribner's  Magazine,  July,  1899. 


v]  THE   ANTISLAVEKY    MOVEMENT  217 

argument  of  the  speech  was  probably  correct,  but  the 
moral  attitude  of  it  was  a  blunder,  through  which  he 
lost  the  opportunity  of  making  himself  the  leader  of 
the  great  movement  that  was  soon  to  bring  to  final 
settlement  the  questions  to  which  his  life  had  been 
devoted.  Disappointment  and  embitterment,  arising 
from  political  defeat  and  public  criticism,  hastened 
the  work  of  disease,  which  brought  his  life  to  a  close 
at  his  home  in  Marshfield,  October  24, 1852.  His  last 
words  were,  "  I  still  live."  In  his  noblest  orations 
he  must  continue  to  live  as  long  as  the  Constitution 
lives,  to  the  preservation  of  which  his  life  was  dedi 
cated. 

The  personality  of  Webster  was  one  of  extraordinary 
impressiveness ;  his  manner  was  imperial,  Olympian, 
and  his  power  was  massive  and  colossal.  He  im 
pressed  all  classes  alike  with  a  sense  of  the  might 
and  magnificence  of  irresistible  strength.  A  remark 
able  combination  of  physical  and  mental  endowments 
contributed  to  this  effect.  He  was  strong  in  physique, 
dignified  in  bearing,  with  splendidly  molded  head, 
swarthy  face,  beetling  brows,  deeply  shading  eyes  that 
burned  like  fire  in  moments  of  passion,  and  a  most 
noble  forehead,  "the  front  of  Jove  him-  Webster's 
self."  A  Liverpool  navvy,  seeing  him  Personality 
walking  along  the  street,  cried  out,  "  There  goes  a 
king !  "  Carlyle  pronounced  him  to  be  "  a  magnifi 
cent  specimen,"  who  looked  "like  a  walking  ca 
thedral."  When  speaking  he  seldom  moved  or  made 


218  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

a  gesture,  yet  audiences  would  listen  with  spellbound 
attention.  His  voice  was  rich,  flexible,  and  of  great 
compass,  flutelike  or  trumpet-toned  as  thought  or  oc 
casion  required.  In  private  life  he  was  as  gentle  and 
pleasing  as  in  public  life  he  was  powerful.  "  His 
goodly  person,  his  gracious  bearing,  and  his  benignant 
courtesy  made  him  the  delight  of  every  circle  he  en 
tered  ;  in  the  presence  of  ladies,  especially,  his  great 
powers  seemed  to  robe  themselves  spontaneously  in 
beauty." 

For  a  generation  Webster  was  the  political  oracle  of 
New  England,  accepted,  revered,  almost  worshiped. 
Citizens  of  Boston  who  had  seen  him  a  score  of  times 
would  leave  their  work  to  gaze  at  the  wonderful  man 
His  as  he  passed  in  the  streets.  His  great 

influence  speeches  were  read  and  studied  in  every 
household.  He  was  the  people's  instructor  in  politi 
cal  doctrine,  and  gave  to  them  new  ideals  of  union 
and  nationality.  Love  of  a  united  country,  as  a  dis 
tinct  American  virtue,  was  mainly  his  creation ;  he 
was  the  author  of  modern  patriotism.  Before  Web 
ster's  time  "  Freedom "  was  the  talismanic  word  of 
Americans ;  since  his  time,  that  word  has  been 
"  Union." 

Of  all  our  statesmen  who  have  exerted  a  great  and 
permanent  influence  upon  national  affairs,  Webster  is 
the  only  one  who  can  fairly  be  counted  among  American 
men  of  letters.  He  occupies  in  this  respect  the  posi 
tion  held  by  Burke  in  English  literature.  His  speeches 


v]  THE    ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT  219 

are  literary  as  well  as  oratorical,  because  they  are  more 
than  local  and  temporary,  because  they  contain  the 
elements  of  literary  permanency  —  great  thoughts  ex 
pressed  in  artistic  forms.  Upon  two  simple  funda 
mental  qualities,  clearness  and  strength,  he  built  up  a 
style  distinctly  his  own,  —  plain,  precise,  unaffected,  and 
powerful;  rising  at  times  from  the  level  of 
fact  and  logic  into  passages  of  sublime  elo 
quence,  when  he  was  moved  by  some  grand  thought  or 
passion.  There  is  little  ornament,  only  here  and  there 
a  swelling  climax  and  a  magnificent  metaphor.  His 
speech  moves  on  with  a  majestic  rhythm,  like  that  of 
the  ocean,  always  dignified,  stately,  and  masterful. 
The  illustrations  are  clear-cut  and  vivid;  the  mere 
statement  of  facts  is  sometimes  so  striking  as  to  serve 
for  demonstration ;  and  the  climax  of  a  dry  argument 
is  often  capped  by  a  forcible  touch  of  the  imagination 
that  lifts  the  whole  discourse  into  the  realm  of  art. 
He  carefully  revised  his  speeches  before  publication, 
with  scrupulous  regard  for  exactness,  rather  than 
beauty  of  expression.  It  is  related  that  he  handed 
the  Adams  and  Jefferson  oration  to  a  student  in  his 
office,  with  the  direction  to  "  weed  out  all  the  Latin 
words."  His  preference  for  sturdy  Saxon  was  not 
prejudice  or  affectation,  but  merely  solicitude  to  make 
his  language  a  perfect  expression  of  himself. 

The  style  of  Webster,  at  its  best,  is  the  "grand 
style  "  of  the  classic  masters.  Professor  Peck  calls  it 
Eoman  in  both  spirit  and  expression.  "  The  closest 


220  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

parallel  to  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  oratory  of  Cicero. 
Its  rhetoric  is  as  perfect  in  its  choice  of  phrase,  in  its 
Webster  and  marshaling  of  the  sentences,  in  the  rhyth- 
cicero  mical  swing  of  its  cadences,  and  in  the 

beauty  and  exquisite  fitness  of  its  imagery.  Yet  it  is 
far  superior  to  Cicero's  in  this,  that  we  are  never  con 
scious  in  Webster  of  that  combination  of  weakness  and 
insincerity,  of  pose  and  special  pleading  which  the 
Ciceronian  oratory  exhibits,  nor  of  the  cheap  facil 
ity  of  the  trained  advocate  who  can  argue  with  equal 
plausibility  on  any  side  of  every  question.  Webster 
was  always  intensely  in  earnest;  the  note  of  perfect 
conviction  dominates  his  utterances ;  and  there  is  an 
undercurrent  of  the  passion  that  stirs  the  blood  and 
gives  enduring  vitality  to  the  words  and  thoughts  of 
the  inspired  orator."  l 

The  peculiar  eminence  of  Webster's  oratory  is  shown 
by  any  comparison  with  that  of  his  eloquent  contem 
poraries;  their  most  brilliant  efforts  have  faded  into 
tradition,  while  his  remain  among  the  inspiring  clas 
sics  of  our  literature.  "  Even  his  words  have  embedded 
themselves  in  the  common  phraseology,  and  come  to 
Literary  the  tongue  like  passages  from  the  psalms  or 
Permanency  faQ  pOets.  I  do  not  know  that  a  sentence 
or  a  word  of  Simmer's  repeats  itself  in  our  everyday 
parlance.  The  exquisite  periods  of  Everett  are  recalled 
like  the  consummate  work  of  some  master  of  music, 
but  no  note  or  refrain  sings  itself  over  and  over  again 
1  Carpenter's  "American  Prose,"  p.  103. 


v]  THE    ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT  221 

to  our  ears.  The  brilliant  eloquence  of  Choate  is  like 
the  flash  of  a  bursting  rocket,  lingering  upon  the  retina, 
indeed,  after  it  has  faded  from  the  wings  of  night,  but 
as  elusive  of  our  grasp  as  spray -drops  that  glisten  in 
the  sun.  But  Webster  made  his  language  the  very 
household  words  of  a  nation."  l 

Nor  is  Webster's  eminence  affected  by  comparison 
with  the  great  masters  of  English  eloquence.  "As  an 
orator  of  reason,"  says  Goldwin  Smith,  "he  has  no 
superior  if  he  has  an  equal  in  the  English  language." '" 
He  did  not  possess  the  brilliant  wit  of  Sheridan,  nor 
the  charm  and  versatility  of  Fox ;  but  he  was  superior 
to  both  in  rhetorical  taste,  finished  style,  and  power  of 
argument.  "  The  man  with  whom  Webster  is  oftenest 
compared  is  of  course  Burke,"  says  Lodge.  "It  may 
be  conceded  at  once  that  in  creative  imagi-  websterand 
nation  and  in  richness  of  imagery  and  Ian-  Burke 
guage  Burke  ranks  above  Webster.  But  no  one  would 
ever  have  said  of  Webster  as  Goldsmith  did  of  Burke :  — 

Who,  too  deep  for  his  hearers,  still  went  on  refining, 
And  thought  of  convincing  while  they  thought  of  dining. 

Webster  never  sinned  by  over-refinement,  or  over- 
'  ingenuity,  for  both  were  utterly  foreign  to  his  nature. 
Still  less  did  he  impair  his  power  in  the  Senate  as 
Burke  did  in  the  Commons  by  talking  too  often  and 
too  much.  If  he  did  not  have  the  extreme  beauty 

1Johu  D.  Long,   "  After-diuuer  and  Other  Speeches." 
2  "The  United  States,"  p.  181. 


222  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAT. 

and  grace  of  which  Burke  was  capable,  he  was  more 
forcible,  and  struck  harder  and  more  weighty  blows." 
Webster  was  not  free  from  the  temptations  and 
frailties  of  greatness,  and  his  private  life  was  not 
without  reproach.  He  earned  large  sums  of  money, 
but  spent  more  than  he  earned,  and  allowed  his 
friends  to  assume  the  burden  of  his  debts.  "  And 
yet,"  says  Parton,  "  such  was  the  power  of  his  genius, 
such  was  the  charm  of  his  manner,  such  the  affection- 
ateness  of  his  nature,  such  the  robust  heartiness  of  his 
enjoyment  of  life  that  honorable  men  who  knew  his 
faults  best  loved  him  to  the  last."  His  qualities  are 
well  summarized  by  Carl  Schurz:  "Not  indeed  an 
Final  originator  of  policies  and  measures,  but  a 

summary  marvelous  expounder  of  principles,  laws, 
and  facts,  who  illumined  every  topic  of  public  concern 
he  touched  with  the  light  of  a  sovereign  intelligence 
and  vast  knowledge,  who  by  overpowering  argument 
riveted  around  the  Union  unbreakable  bonds  of  con 
stitutional  doctrine ;  who  awaked  to  new  life  and  ani 
mated  with  invincible  vigor  the  national  spirit ;  who 
left  to  his  countrymen  and  to  the  world  invaluable 
lessons  of  statesmanship,  right,  and  patriotism,  in 
language  of  grand  simplicity  and  prodigiously  force 
ful  clearness ;  and  who  might  stand  as  its  greatest 
man  in  the  political  history  of  America,  had  he  been 
a  master  character  as  he  was  a  master  mind." 

Class    Study.  —  First    Bunker    Hill    Oration ;    Oration    on 
Adams  and  Jefferson  ;  The  Reply  to  Hayne. 


vj  THE   ANTISLAVERY  MOVEMENT  223 

Class  Reading.  —  Second  Bunker  Hill  Oration  ;  First  Settle 
ment  of  New  England  (Plymouth  Oration)  ;  Opening  passage 
of  the  Argument  in  the  White  Murder  Trial  ;  The  Drum 
beat  of  England  passage  in  The  Presidential  Protest ;  The 
Character  of  Washington. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Curtis's  "Life  of  Daniel  Web 
ster."  Lodge's  "Daniel  Webster"  (American  Statesmen). 
Parton's  "Famous  Americans."  Appleton's  "Cyclopaedia  of 
American  Biography"  (John  Fiske).  Hapgood's  "Daniel 
Webster"  (Beacon  Biographies).  Wolfe's  "Literary  Shrines." 
Everett's  "Orations  and  Speeches,"  Vols.  Ill,  IV.  Cham 
berlain's  "John  Adams  and  Other  Essays."  Lodge's  "Studies 
in  History. "  Whipple's  "American  Literature"  (Webster  as 
a  Master  of  English  Style),  and  "  Essays  and  Reviews,"  Vol. 
I.  Library  of  the  World's  Best  Literature  (Carl  Schurz). 
Robert  C.  Winthrop's  "Webster's  Reply  to  Ilayne"  (Scrib- 
ner's  Magazine,  January,  1894).  Sparks's  "Men  Who  Made 
the  Nation."  Century  Magazine,  Nov.,  1900,  March,  June, 
Sept.,  1901  (McMaster). 

Holmes's  "  Birthday  of  Daniel  Webster."  Emerson's  "  Web 
ster."  Whittier's  "  Ichabod  "  and  "  The  Lost  Occasion."  Wil 
kinson's  "  Webster  :  An  Ode." 


EVERETT,  CHOATE,  PHILLIPS,  SUMNER,   LINCOLN 

"  The  Nemesis  of  public  speaking,"  says  Higginson, 
—  "  the  thing  that  seems  to  make  it  almost  worthless 
in  the  long  run  —  is  the  impossibility  of  making  it  tell 
for  anything  after  its  moment  is  past."  This  melan 
choly  truth  is  well  illustrated  by  the  minor  orators  of 
this  period  whose  greatness  became  a  tradition  almost  as 
soon  as  their  voices  were  silent.  Edward  Everett,  who 
was  successively  a  professor,  preacher,  editor,  member 
of  Congress,  minister  to  England,  secretary  of  state, 


224  AMERICAN    LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  president  of  Harvard 
College,  was  justly  celebrated  for  his  extensive  schol 
arship,  fine  classical  tastes,  and  broad  cul- 

Edward 

Everett,  ture,  and  for  the  eloquence  and  elegance  of 
his  "  occasional "  addresses.  Fame  distin 
guishes  him  as  "  the  most  accomplished  gentleman 
of  his  time,"  and  the  inspiring  influence  of  his  bril 
liant  presence  was,  says  Emerson,  "  almost  comparable 
to  that  of  Pericles  in  Athens."  His  popularity  as 
a  lecturer  is  unsurpassed  in  America ;  the  lecture  on 
"  Washington  "  was  delivered  nearly  one  hundred  and 
fifty  times.  His  style  was  too  palpably  ornamented  to 
conceal  its  art.  The  long,  smooth,  classical  sentences 
are  beautifully  balanced  and  highly  decorated.  Dr. 
Holmes  calls  them  "full-blown,  high-colored,  double- 
flowered  periods,"  and  to  Emerson  "all  his  speech 
was  music."  Yet  now  this  coruscating  rhetoric  is 
almost  as  obsolete  as  the  knightly  trappings  of 
chivalry. 

The  fame  of  Eufus  Choate,  lawyer,  statesman,  and 

orator,  is   closely   associated   with   that  of  Webster. 

He  was  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  and  a  member  of 

Congress  from  Massachusetts,  taking  Webster's  place 

in  the    Senate   in   1841 ;    he   divided   the 

Rufus 

Choate,  honors  of  the  bar  with  Webster,  and  his 

most  famous  oration  is  the  "Eulogy  on 
Daniel  Webster."  Remarkable  for  his  effectiveness 
before  juries,  and  justly  held  to  be  the  "  first  of  Ameri 
can  lawyers,"  he  was  equally  remarkable  for  qualities 


v]  THE   ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT  225 

purely  scholastic.  His  mind  would  not  be  limited  to 
law.  Scholarly  in  tastes  and  broad  in  literary  attain 
ment,  he  acquired  an  almost  phenomenal  command  of 
the  English  language,  his  vocabulary  comparing- in 
extent  with  that  of  the  great  poets,  even  Milton  and 
Shakspere.  His  style  is  Oriental  in  its  florid  opulence. 
He  piles  up  adjectives  with  a  gorgeous  richness  of 
effect,  much  like  that  which  the  painter  produces  by 
the  laying  on  of  successive  colors;  it  has  been  said 
of  him  that  he  "  drives  a  substantive  and  six  " ;  and 
his  sentences  are  often  marvels  of  elaborate  rhetori 
cal  structure.  Such  orations  as  the  "  Eulogy  on 
Webster,"  "  The  Eloquence  of  Revolutionary  Periods," 
and  "  American  Nationality  "  have  not  yet  lost  all  their 
charm,  and  should  be  studied  as  illustrations  of  a  lofty 
classical  manner  of  speech  unknown  to  the  present 
generation. 

Robert  C.  Winthrop,  who  began  his  career  as  a  law 
student  in  the  office  of  Daniel  Webster,  resembled  his 
fellow-orators  of  Boston  in  the  amplitude  of  his  classi 
cal  culture  and  in  his  popularity  as  an  orator  of  his 
torical  and  commemorative  occasions,  which  he  graced 
with  a  refined  and  stately  eloquence.  He  was  the 
orator  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  Wash 
ington  monument,  in  1848,  and  at  its  dedication  in 
1885. 

The  antislavery  movement  had  its  own  orator,  its 
statesman,  its  poet,  and  its  novelist.  Its  orator  was 
Wendell  Phillips,  whose  tongue  was  like  a  flaming 
Q 


226  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

sword,  and  who  never  abated  his  burning  arraignment 
of  the  national  conscience  until  the  cause  of  the 
slave  was  won. 

A  sower  of  infinite  seed  was  he,  a 
Woodman  that  hewed  toward  the  light, 

Who  dared  to  be  traitor  to  Union  when 
Union  was  traitor  to  right  ! 

Possessing  by  nature  the  resources  of  a  great  pub 
lic  speaker,  a  gracious  presence,  fine  voice,  large 
stores  of  ready  knowledge,  wit  and  humor,  mas 
terly  power  of  denunciation,  and  a  fearless  spirit, 
he  could  with  almost  equal  facility  captivate  a  cul 
tured  audience  or  conquer  a  hostile  one. 
Wendell 

Phillips,  James  Bryce  regards  him  as  "  one  of  the 
first  orators  of  the  present  century,  and  not 
more  remarkable  for  the  finish  than  for  the  transparent 
simplicity  of  his  style."  Recalling  the  marvelous 
charm  of  his  speaking  —  as  inexplicable  "as  the 
secret  of  the  rose's  sweetness  "  —  Curtis  says :  "  What 
was  heard,  what  was  seen,  was  the  form  of  noble  man 
hood,  the  courteous  and  self-possessed  tone,  the  flow 
of  modulated  speech,  sparkling  with  matchless  rich 
ness  of  illustration,  with  apt  allusion  and  happy  anec 
dote  and  historic  parallel,  with  wit  and  pitiless 
invective,  with  melodious  pathos,  with  stinging  satire, 
with  crackling  epigram  and  limpid  humor,  like  the 
bright  ripples  that  play  around  the  sure  and  steady 
prow  of  the  resistless  ship.  Like  an  illuminated  vase 
of  odors,  he  glowed  with  concentrated  and  perfumed 


v]  THE   ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT  227 

fire."  After  the  work  of  emancipation  had  been 
accomplished,  Phillips  continued  before  the  public 
many  years  with  such  popular  lectures  as  "  The  Lost 
Arts  "  and  "  Toussaint  1'Ouverture." 

The  leader  of  the  abolitionists  in  Congress  was 
Charles  Sumner,  a  man  whose  "  soul  was  on  fire 
with  moral  enthusiasm,"  who  impressed  himself  as  a 
speaker,  not  so  much  by  eloquence,  or  argument,  or  am 
plitude  of  knowledge,  as  by  intense  moral  earnestness. 
Academic  in  his  tastes,  preferring  books,  _harl 
travel,  and  cultivated  society  to  public  life,  Sumner, 
he  was  forced  by  a  sense  of  duty  into  the 
swirling  tide  of  agitation  against  slavery,  and  con 
tinued  to  the  end  of  his  life  to  be  the  negro's  devoted 
and  chivalrous  champion.  He  was  aggressive,  im 
petuous,  and  uncompromising ;  of  all  men  in  Congress, 
the  slaveholders  feared  and  hated  him  most.  The 
love  of  right  was  a  passion  with  him,  and  all  his  ener 
gies  were  engaged  in  making  right  prevail.  "  His  ample 
learning  and  various  accomplishments  were  rivaled 
among  American  public  men  only  by  those  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,  and  during  all  the  fury  of  political 
passion  in  which  he  lived,  there  was  never  a  whisper 
or  suspicion  of  his  political  honesty  or  his  personal 
integrity."  He  was  a  noble  example  of  what  an 
American  statesman  ought  to  be.  The  celebrated 
address  on  "  The  True  Grandeur  of  Nations,"  delivered 
in  Boston,  July  4,  1845,  established  his  fame  as  an 
orator ;  the  most  famous  of  his  parliamentary  speeches 


228  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

is  "The  Crime  against  Kansas."  The  twelve  volumes 
of  his  speeches  contain  much  living  matter,  for  the 
lofty  ideals  that  guide  his  thinking,  the  moral  fervor 
that  fills  his  words,  and  the  varied  learning  that 
everywhere  enriches  his  expression,  give  a  literary 
interest  to  invaluable  historical  material. 

The  work  begun  by  Garrison,  the  "Liberator,"  was 
consummated  by  Lincoln,  the  "  Great  Emancipator." 

Abraham  ^ne    memory    °f    this    wise,    noble,    large- 

Lincoln,  hearted,  plain  man  of  the  people,  is  a  pre 

cious  legacy  to  Americans.  No  president 
—  not  even  Washington  —  has  won  so  large  a  place  in 
the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.  It  is  fortunate,  there 
fore,  that  he  left  some  expression  of  himself  possess 
ing  the  permanency  of  literature.  Without  literary 
training  or  tastes,  and  with  no  thought  of  literary 
production,  Lincoln  gave  to  the  world  two  or  three 
literary  masterpieces.  Unconscious  of  style,  and  of 
the  arts  by  which  style  is  cultivated,  he  shaped  for 
himself  a  style  that  for  simplicity,  directness,  and 
strength  is  unsurpassed  in  American  prose.  The 
secret  of  this  style  is  largely  explained  by  two  quali 
ties  of  his  nature,  sincerity  and  deep  human  sym 
pathy  ;  when  speaking  he  devoutly  purposed  that  his 
words  should  stand  for  his  thought  and  feeling,  noth 
ing  else,  and  he  profoundly  desired  to  make  them 
helpful  to  humanity. 

The  brief  address  at  the  dedication  of  the  National 
Cemetery  at  Gettysburg  has  been  called  "  the  top  and 


v] 


THE   ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT 


220 


crown  of  American  eloquence."     This  unique  expres 
sion  of  the  solemn  significance  of  the  great  conflict  and 
of  the  responsibilities  resting  upon  patri-  Gettysburg 
otic  citizens  was  a  classic  from  the  moment  Address 
of  its  utterance.     It  is  a  striking  contrast  to  the  sono 
rous    and    elabo 
rate  eloquence  of 
Webster     and 
Everett ;    indeed, 
it   marks   a   new 
era    in    public 
speaking ;     since 
Lincoln's    day, 
orators      have 
learned  that  the 
only  sure  way  to 
be  effective  is  to 
be     honest     and 
natural. 

But    greater 
even     than     the 
Gettysburg      ad 
dress,  and   more   characteristic,  in  the  judgment   of 
Schurz,   is   the    "  Second   Inaugural,"  in   which   "  he 
poured  out  the  whole  devotion  and  tender-  second 
ness   of  his  great   soul.      It   had   all  the   inaugural 
solemnity  of  a  father's  last  admonition  and  blessing 
to  his  children  before  he  lay  down  to  die."     Beneath 
the  awkward  exterior  of  the  man,  beneath  the  homely 


Abraham  Lincoln 


230  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

wit  and  irrepressible  humor  that  lighted  up  the  sur 
face  of  his  life,  there  was  a  serious  and  pathetic 
nature,  a  spirit  of  melancholy,  weighed  down  by  the 
burdens  of  his  fellow-men.  "  The  inner  forces  of  his 
nature  played  through  his  thought;  and  when  great 
occasions  touched  him  to  the  quick,  his  whole  nature 
shaped  his  speech  and  gave  it  clear  intelligence,  deep 
feeling,  and  that  beauty  which  is  distilled  out  of  the 
depths  of  the  sorrows  and  hopes  of  the  world." l 

Among  the  antislavery  agitators  should  be  counted 
America's  most  celebrated  pulpit  orator,  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  who  from  both  pulpit  and  platform  spoke  for 
the  cause  with  a  voice  of  astonishing  eloquence  and 
persuasive  power.  The  series  of  addresses,  given  in 
England  for  the  purpose  of  overcoming  the  hostility 
H  n  of  the  English  people  toward  the  North 

Beecher,  during  the  Civil  War,  is  probably  without  a 
parallel  in  the  history  of  oratory.  His  elo 
quence  was  spontaneous,  fervid,  strong  in  apt  illustra 
tion,  rich  in  humor,  and  abounding  in  original  and 
striking  forms  of  statement.  During  his  long  career  as 
pastor  of  Plymouth  church,  Brooklyn,  he  contributed 
extensively  to  periodical  literature  and  published  many 
books,  covering  a  wide  variety  of  subjects  and  showing 
his  versatility  of  mind  and  broad  human  interests. 
They  range  from  "  Lectures  to  Young  Men,"  "  Aids  to 
Prayer,"  and  "Life  Thoughts"  to  "Pleasant  Talk 

1  Hamilton  W.  Mabie,  "Library  of  the  World's  Best  Liter 
ature." 


v]  THE   ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT  231 

about  Fruit,  Flowers,  and  Farming,"  "Freedom  and 
War,"  "  Evolution  and  Religion,"  "Norwood,"  a  novel 
of  indifferent  merit,  and  a  "Life  of  Christ"  of  no  merit 
at  all.  His  most  popular  books  were  the  two  series  of 
"  Star  Papers,"  and  his  best  work  is  now  to  be  found 
in  the  eleven  volumes  of  his  "  Sermons,"  which  were 
committed  to  writing  by  a  stenographer  as  they  were 
delivered.  Like  the  work  of  so  many  others  whose 
highest  quality  of  genius  is  chiefly  expressed  through 
the  living  voice,  Beecher's  work  was  largely  temporary 
in  interest  and  influence.  The  magic  of  his  personality 
is  not  felt  in  the  printed  page. 

Class  Study.  —  Lincoln's  "Gettysburg  Address,"  and  "Sec 
ond  Inaugural";  Choate's  "Eulogy  on  Daniel  Webster." 

Class  Reading.  —  Lincoln's  '-First  Inaugural";  Everett's 
'•Gettysburg  Oration";  Phillips's  ••  Toussaint  1'Ouverture"  ; 
Sumner's  "True  Grandeur  of  Nations." 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Nicolay  and  Hay's  "Abraham 
Lincoln:  A  History."  Herndon's  "Abraham  Lincoln:  True 
Story  of  a  Great  Life."  Morse's  "Abraham  Lincoln"  (Ameri 
can  Statesmen).  Brooks's  "Abraham  Lincoln"  (Heroes  of  the 
Nation).  Chittenden's  "Recollections  of  President  Lincoln." 
Carl  Schurz's  "Abraham  Lincoln."  Sumner's  "Eulogy  on 
Lincoln"  (Works,  Vol.  IX).  Lowell's  "Political  Essays" 
(Prose  "Works,  Vol.  V).  Everett's  "Orations  and  Speeches," 
Vol.  IV.  Harrison's  "  George  Washington  and  other  Ad 
dresses."  Lowell's  "  Commemoration  Ode."  Stoddard's 
"Abraham  Lincoln."  Maurice  Thompson's  "Lincoln's 
Grave."  Whitman's  "  My  Captain."  Edwin  Markham's 
"Abraham  Lincoln." — Dana's  "Life  and  Public  Services  of 
Edward  Everett."  Appleton's  "Cyclopaedia  of  American 
Biography."  Emerson's  "Life  and  Letters  in  New  England." 
Wliipple's  "Character  and  Characteristic  Men."  —  Austin's 


232  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

"Life  and  Times  of  Wendell  Phillips."  Martyn's  "Wendell 
Phillips"  (American  Reformers).  Curtis's  "Orations  and 
Addresses,"  Vol.  III.  Julia  Ward  Howe's  "Reminiscences." 
Aldrich's  "Monody  on  the  Death  of  Wendell  Phillips."  John 
Boyle  O'Reilly's  "  Wendell  Phillips."  —  Pierce's  "Memoirs  .and 
Letters  of  Charles  Sumner."  Storey's  "Charles  Stunner" 
(American  Statesmen).  Grimk^'s  "  Charles  Sumner,  the  Scholar 
in  Politics"  (American  Reformers).  Curtis's  "Orations  and 
Addresses,"  Vol.  III.  Whipple's  "Recollections  of  Eminent 
Men."  Higginson's  "  Contemporaries."  Longfellow's  " Charles 
Sumner"  and  "Three  Friends."  Whittier's  "To  C.  S." 
and  "Sumner." — Neilson's  "Memories  of  Rufus  Choate." 
Whipple's  "Recollections  of  Eminent  Men." 


JOHN   GREENLEAF   WHITTIER 
1807-1892 

John  Greenleaf  Whittier  was  born  in  Haverhill, 
Mass.,  December  17,  1807,  in  an  isolated  farm 
house  that  had  been  the  home  of  his  paternal  ancestors 
for  four  generations.  Near  by  is  the  Merrimac,  cele 
brated  in  his  poems,  and  not  far  away  the  ocean  can 
be  heard  breaking  on  Salisbury  beach.  The  simple 
Quaker  household  is  faithfully  described  in  "  Snow 
bound."  The  mother  was  a  refined  and  saintly  woman, 
The  Quaker  whose  qualities  were  repeated  in  her  gifted 
B°y  son.  To  a  story -telling  uncle,  "  innocent 

of  books,"  but  "  rich  in  lore  of  fields  and  brooks,"  he 
owed  the  first  kindling  of  his  imagination.  Like 
every  farmer's  boy,  he  was  kept  busy  with  "chores," 
and  allowed  but  scant  privileges  of  education.  The 


v] 


THE   ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT 


233 


knowledge  he  gained  was  largely  that  of  his  "  Bare 
foot  Boy  "  :  - 

Knowledge  never  learned  of  schools, 
Of  the  wild  bee's  morning  chase, 
Of  the  wild  flower's  time  and  place, 
Flight  of  fowl  and  habitude 
Of  the  tenants  of  the  wood. 

There  were  few  books  in  the  home  except  the  Bible 
and  memorials  of  Quaker  saints ;  but  these  he  read 
until  he  knew 
them  by  heart,  as 
well  as  all  the 
books  he  could 
borrow ;  once  he 
enjoyed  with  his 
sister  the  stolen 
delight  of  a  'U'av- 
erley  novel,  and 
also  a  copy  of 
Shakspere,  which 
he  obtained  while 
visiting  a  rela 
tive  in  Boston 
and  carried  home 
with  a  troubled 
conscience. 

When  he  was  about  fourteen,  a  schoolmaster  one  even 
ing  read  aloud  to  the  family  Burns's  poems.  The  boy 
listened  spellbound,  and  from  that  evening  he  was  a 


John  Greenleaf  Whittier 


234  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAI-. 

poet.  It  was  a  revelation  that  "home-seen  nature," 
such  as  a  farmer's  boy  knew,  could  be  poetical.  Burns 
became  his  inspiration  and  model,  and  to  his  memory 
The  Young  ne  paid  in  after  years  a  noble  and  loyal 
Poet  poetic  tribute.  He  wrote  verses  profusely, 

imitating  Burns  and  other  poets,  encouraged  by  his 


Whittier's  Birthplace 

sister,  who  became  his  first  literary  agent.  Believing 
his  poems  to  be  as  good  as  others  in  the  poet's  corner 
of  the  local  newspaper,  she  sent  one  without  his 
knowledge  to  the  editor;  when  the  paper  came  to  the 
boy  poet,  while  at  work  with  his  father  upon  a  stone 
wall,  his  "  heart  stood  still  for  a  moment "  with  strange 
delight  at  finding  his  own  verses  in  print.  The  editor, 
the  young  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  discovered  his 
modest  contributor  and  urged  the  father  to  give  him 


v]  THE   ANTISLAVEHY   MOVEMENT  235 

an  education.  Such  was  the  first  acquaintance,  in 
1826,  of  these  two  distinguished  antislavery  agitators. 
It  was  now  agreed  that  Greenleaf  should  attend  the 
Haverhill  Academy,  on  condition  that  he  paid  his  own 
way,  which  he  did  for  a  little  more  than  a  year,  mainly 
by  making  slippers  at  eight  cents  a  pair.  A  few  terms 
in  the  district  school  and  this  year  in  the  academy 
constituted  the  whole  of  Whittier's  scholastic  career ; 
it  was  the  more  significant  tribute  to  his  worth  and 
culture,  therefore,  when  in  later  life  he  was  elected  an 
overseer  of  Harvard  University. 

He  now  drifted  easily  into  journalism,  aided  by  his 
friend  Garrison,  and  held  for  brief  periods  editorial 
positions  in  Boston,  Hartford,  and  Philadelphia. 
While  at  Hartford,  in  1831,  he  published  his  first  book, 
"Legends  of  New  England,  in  Prose  and  Verse,"  a 
book  that  his  riper  judgment  consigned  to  the  fire 
whenever  a  copy  came  in  his  way.  In  spite  of  his 
Quaker  heritage  and  inherent  gentleness,  xhe  Quaker 
he  was  strongly  drawn  toward  a  political  Politician 
career,  and  for  many  years  he  played  an  active  part  in 
the  political  turmoil  of  the  times.  As  he  himself  put 
it,  he  "threw  the  rough  armor  of  rude  and  turbulent 
controversy  over  a  keenly  sensitive  bosom."  Poetry 
was  long  "incidental  to  politics."  In  1833  he  pub 
lished,  at  his  own  expense,  a  vigorous  pamphlet  on  the 
slavery  question,  entitled  "Justice  and  Expediency." 
This  ruined  his  political  prospects  at  once,  and  closed 
the  columns  of  many  periodicals  to  his  poetry.  But 


236  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

he  made  the  sacrifice  deliberately,  and  cast  in  his  lot 
with  the  little  band  of  detested  "  abolitionists."  He 
was  made  secretary  of  the  Antislavery  Society,  and 
signed  the  famous  "  Declaration  of  Sentiments,"  framed 
by  Garrison.  Of  this  he  once  said,  "I  set  a  higher 
value  on  my  name  as  appended  to  the  Antislavery 
Declaration  of  1833  than  on  the  title  page  of  any  book." 
He  had  now  consecrated  himself  to  a  great  cause, 
and  a  marked  change  appeared  in  his  poetry;  the 
earnest  and  vigorous  soul  of  the  reformer  entered  into 
A  New  it.  He  had  written  hundreds  of  pleasing, 

inspiration  rhetorical  poems  that  had  circulated  widely 
and  brought  him  flattering  fame,  but  very  few  of  these 
by  his  own  desire  were  retained  in  final  editions  of  his 
works.  The  true  poet  was  first  heard  in  the  poems 
upon  slavery,  which  he  now  wrote  in  rapid  succession, 
trumpet  calls  to  duty,  swift  and  fearless  attacks  like 
the  speeches  of  Phillips  and  Garrison,  "  hammer 
strokes  against  flinty  prejudices."  In  impetuous, 
ringing  stanzas,  he  poured  forth  his  hot  indignation, 
startling  the  conscience  of  the  whole  nation.  Against 
the  recreant  clergy  he  cries  out :  — 

How  long,  O  Lord  !  how  long 
Shall  such  a  priesthood  barter  truth  away, 

And  in  thy  name,  for  robbery  and  wrong 
At  thy  own  altars  pray  ? 

For  the  pursuers  of  fugitive  slaves  he  has  a  song  of 
stinging  irony,  "  The  Hunters  of  Men,"  and  another 
for  the  auctioneer  in  the  slave  market:  — 


v]  THE   ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT  237 

A  Christian  !  going,  gone  ! 
Who  bids  for  God's  own  image  ? 

And  in  "Massachusetts  to  Virginia"  he  sounds  a 
"  blast  from  Freedom's  Northern  hills  "  as  terrible  in 
its  deep-toned  scorn  and  denunciation  as  the  voice  of 
an  ancient  prophet. 

Whitter  once  remarked  that  he  must  have  inherited 
"  somewhat  of  the  grim  Berserker  spirit."  He  was  a 
good  fighter  in  a  righteous  cause,  lacking  neither 
physical  nor  moral  courage.  While  editing  the  Free 
man,  in  Philadelphia,  his  office  was  sacked  and 
burned,  and  on  several  occasions  his  life  was  en 
dangered  by  mob  violence.  Ill  health  A  G^ 
frequently  forced  him  to  retire  to  the  Fishter 
quiet  of  his  home,  yet  he  always  kept  well  to  the 
front  of  the  conflict.  "Whenever  occasion  offered," 
says  Lowell,  "some  burning  lyric  of  his  flew  across 
the  country  like  the  fiery  cross  to  warn  and  rally." 
He  was  the  trusted  adviser  of  statesmen,  and  a  skillful 
manager  of  conventions  and  other  political  move 
ments;  twice  he  represented  his  native  town  in  the 
state  legislature,  and  once,  in  1843,  would  have  been 
sent  to  Congress,  had  he  not  become  alarmed  at  the 
prospect  of  being  elected  and  withdrawn  his  candi 
dacy.  He  wrote  extensively  in  both  prose  and  verse 
for  the  National  Era,  the  chief  organ  of  the  anti- 
slavery  party.  The  first  number  contained  the  fine 
poem,  "  Randolph  of  Roanoke."  Here  first  appeared 
"  Maud  Muller,"  "  Angels  of  Buena  Vista,"  and  "  Icha- 


238  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

bod,"  and  also,  in  serial  form,  "  Margaret  Smith's 
Journal,"  a  pleasing  description  of  old  time  manners 
and  customs  in  New  England. 

The  first  collection  of  Whittier's  poems  appeared  in 
1837,  and  a  second  collection  in  1839.  In  1843  "  Lays 
of  My  Home"  appeared,  the  first  book  to  bring  the 
poet  any  pecuniary  return,  the  others  having  been 
published  in  the  interest  of  "  the  cause."  The  slavery 
poems  were  gathered  into  a  volume,  in  1849,  with  the 
title  "  Voices  of  Freedom,"  and  this  was  followed  the 
next  year  by  the  "  Songs  of  Labor,"  celebrating  in 
easy-flowing  and  popular,  though  not  especially  poeti 
cal,  verses  the  homely  beauty  of  shoemaking,  fishing, 
himbering,  and  other  forms  of  common  toil.  Without 
diminution  of  patriotic  zeal,  Whittier  was  now  turn 
ing  his  thoughts  more  frequently  to  the 
Broadening 

Poetic  poetry  of  his  home  surroundings,  and  we 

begin  to  hear  the  firm  strains  of  nature- 
loving  and  domestic  song  that  constituted  his  final 
fame.  About  this  time  Longfellow,  after  meeting 
him,  wrote  in  his  journal,  "He  grows  milder  and 
mellower  as  does  his  poetry."  But  his  Tyrtsean  strain 
did  not  cease  until  the  slave  was  free  and  the  Union 
saved,  and  throughout  the  great  conflict  among  the 
most  powerful  leaders  was  this  Quaker  knight  of  the 
pen.  His  reform  poetry  closed  with  the  noble  psean 
"  Laus  Deo."  While  sitting  in  the  Friends'  meeting, 
he  heard  the  bells  ringing  out  the  glad  news  of  the 
passage  of  the  constitutional  amendment  abolishing 


v]  THE    ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT  239 

slavery,  and  this  hymn  of  thankfulness  took  shape  in 
his  mind.  The  hopes  and  trials  of  thirty  years  were 
gloriously  consummated :  — 

It  is  done  ! 

Clang  of  bell  and  roar  of  gun 
Send  the  tidings  up  and  down. 

How  the  belfries  rock  and  reel ! 

How  the  great  guns,  peal  on  peal, 
Fling  the  joy  from  town  to  town  ! 

In  1836  Whittier  sold  the  old  farm  and  purchased 
a  modest  cottage  in  Amesbury,  which  continued  to  be 
his  home  for  fifty  years.  With  him  in  this  delightful 
hermitage,  kept  with  exquisite  Quaker  neatness,  were 
his  mother  and  his  gifted  sister  Elizabeth,  whose 
sympathetic  and  helpful  relations  to  her  brother 
remind  us  of  Dorothea  Wordsworth.  The  greatest 
calamity  of  Whittier's  life  was  the  death  of  this  sister 
in  1864,  seven  years  after  the  death  of  his  mother. 
"The  great  motive  of  life  seems  lost,"  he  Domestic 
wrote  to  a  friend.  The  shadowed  home  Poetry 
now  stimulated  his  memories  of  the  old  home  at 
Haverhill,  and  out  of  his  devoted  love  and  tenderness 
grew  his  masterpiece,  "  Snow-bound,  a  Winter  Idyl," 
which  was  published  in  1866,  with  a  success  rivaling 
that  of  "  Evangeline."  This  beautiful  fireside  idyl 
is  worthily  compared  with  Goldsmith's  "Deserted 
Village,"  the  "Winter  Evening"  in  Cowper's  "Task," 
and  Burns's  "  Cotter's  Saturday  Night."  "  It  is  perfect 
in  its  conception  and  complete  in  its  execution ;  it  is 


240  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

the  New  England  home,  entire,  with  its  characteristic 
scene,  its  incidents  of  household  life,  its  Christian 
virtues.  It  is,  in  a  peculiar  sense,  the  one  poem  of 
New  England  —  so  completely  indigenous  that  the 
soil  has  fairly  created  it,  so  genuine  as  to  be  better 
than  history."1 

"Snow-bound"  was  followed  the  next  year  by  the 
"Tent  on  the  Beach,"  a  series  of  narrative  poems 
woven  together  in  the  manner  of  Longfellow's  "  Tales 
of  a  Wayside  Inn."  Whittier  was  now  universally 
loved.  Even  his  enemies  had  forgiven  him.  Among 
the  many  tributes  from  fellow-poets  was  genuine  praise 
from  the  Southern  poet,  Paul  H.  Hayne.  The 
vehement  reformer  had  disappeared  from  his  poetry, 
Happy  and  the  simple  bucolic  poet  stood  forth, 

ow  Age  singing  the  very  heart  songs  of  the  people. 

The  years  of  his  long  old  age  he  spent  in  happy  enjoy 
ment  of  the  rewards  of  fame,  leisurely  busy  always 
with  his  pen.  In  1890  he  published  a  small  volume 
privately  for  his  friends ;  of  one  of  these  poems  Lowell 
wrote :  "  Your  '  Captain's  Well '  seems  to  me  in  your 
happiest  vein.  Tears  came  to  my  eyes  as  I  read  it." 
Four  weeks  after  writing  a  birthday  poem  "  To  Oliver 
Wendell  Holmes,"  he  died  at  the  home  of  a  relative  in 
Hampton  Falls,  N.  H.,  September  7, 1892.  Character 
istic  of  his  fine  heart,  as  shown  through  life,  were  his 
dying  words,  "My  love — to  —  the  —  world." 

Of  the  New  England  poets  Whittier  owed  least  to  the 
1  Professor  Woodberry,  Atlantic  Monthly,  November,  18'.)2. 


v]  THE   ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT  241 

culture  of  books  and  society.  He  lived  all  his  life  in 
close  contact  with  humble  workers  with  the  hand;  he 
would  not  have  breathed  naturally  in  the  intellectual 
atmosphere  of  Cambridge ;  he  had  little  companionship 
with  scholars  and  the  world's  great  men,  but  the  men 

who   followed  the   plow  and   built   stone 

Personality 

walls  were  his  brothers.  He  loved  better 
to  discuss  politics  with  his  neighbors  in  the  village 
store  than  to  meet  the  literary  people  of  Boston  in 
Mrs.  Fields's  parlors.  "  He  talks  just  like  common 
folks,"  said  one  of  his  neighbors ;  "  we  was  talkin' 
about  the  apples  one  day,  and  he  said,  '  Some  years 
they  ain't  wuth  pickin' '  —  just  like  anybody,  you 
know."  This  nearness  to  "  common  folks/'  to  honest, 
rude,  laboring  manhood,  was  the  source  of  his  strength 
and  popularity.  He  was  shy  and  reticent  among 
strangers,  but  was  not  unsocial  by  nature  nor  a  hermit 
by  choice ;  delicate  health  accounts  for  much  of  his 
recluseness.  He  knew  Europe  only  through  books, 
he  was  never  farther  from  home  than  Washington,  he 
was  never  in  a  theater.  He  always  wore  the  Quaker 
coat,  always  in  conversation  clung  to  the  ungram- 
matical  Quaker  pronouns,  and  attended  faithfully  the 
old-fashioned  Quaker  meeting  of  solemn  silences. 
Hazlitt  thought  that  "a  Quaker  poet  would  be  a 
literary  phenomenon."  Whittier  himself  occasionally 
smiled  at  his  Quaker  coat  when  blowing  his  battle 
trumpet.  In  the  "  Tent  on  the  Beach "  he  draws  a 
portrait  of  himself :  — 


242  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP, 

A  silent,  shy,  peace-loving  man, 
He  seemed  no  fiery  partisan. 

But  everything  that  he  wrote  was  a  faithful  and  genu 
ine  expression  of  his  nature. 

The  character  of  Whit-tier  as  a  poet  is  well  defined 
by  the  historian  Parkman;  he  is  "The  poet  of  New 
England.  His  genius  drew  its  nourishment  from  her 
soil ;  his  pages  are  the  mirror  of  her  outward  nature, 
and  the  strong  utterance  of  her  inward  life."  Like 
Burns,  he  is  a  rustic  poet  of  his  native  fields,  speaking 
the  language  of  the  people  with  whom  he  was  born. 
"  As  a  bucolic  poet  of  his  own  section,"  says  Stedman, 
"  rendering  its  pastoral  life  and  aspect,  Whittier  sur 
passes  all  rivals."  But  his  poetry  is  provincial  only 
in  its  local  coloring  ;  its  sentiment  is  universal,  for  the 
greater  number  of  the  human  family  live  in  close  con- 
Poetic  tact  with  the  soil.  His  main  theme  is  love 
Qualities  of  nome)  humanity,  and  God.  Duty  to 
country  and  to  his  fellow-man  was  his  first  great 
inspiration,  and  for  thirty  years  he  made  poetry  an 
instrument  of  reform,  thus  sacrificing  in  the  heat  of 
campaign  vehemence  the  finer  graces  of  thought  and 
expression  demanded  by  true  art.  Only  a  few  of  the 
slavery  poems  rise  above  a  temporary  and  historic 
interest.  His  finest  poetry  belongs  to  the  second  period 
of  his  career,  when  he  exchanged  his  character  as 
"Freedom's  Trumpeter"  for  that  of  the  gentle  "Hermit 
of  Amesbury."  In  the  "  Proem  "  he  states  his  con 
scious  limitations  with  characteristic  modesty :  — 


v]  THE   ANTISLAVERY    MOVEMENT  243 

I  love  the  old  melodious  lays 
Which  softly  melt  the  ages  through, 

The  songs  of  Spenser's  golden  days, 

Arcadian  Sidney's  silvery  phrase, 
Sprinkling  our  noon  of  time  with  freshest  morning  dew. 

Yet,  vainly  in  my  quiet  hours 
To  breathe  their  marvelous  notes  I  try  ; 

I  feel  them,  as  the  leaves  and  flowers 

In  silence  feel  the  dewy  showers, 
And  drink  with  glad,  still  lips  the  blessing  of  the  sky. 

If  reform  was  the  conscience  of  his  poetry,  religion 
was  its  soul.  Of  all  our  secular  poets  he  is  the  most 
religious,  preaching  always  a  creed  that  is  broad, 
generous,  and  beautiful.  Of  their  kind  there  is  noth 
ing  finer  in  our  literature  than  his  hymns,  which 
some  one  has  called  "  so  many  acts  of  faith."  The 
lofty  poem,  "The  Eternal  Goodness,"  John  Bright 
declared  to  be  "  worth  a  crowd  of  sermons."  The 
doubts  and  questionings  in  "  My  Soul  and  I,"  "  Chapel 
of  the  Hermits,"  and  "Questions  of  Life,"  indicate 
simply  that  his  mind  was  open  to  the  progressive 
influences  of  the  times. 

His  poetic  forms  are  few  and  simple ;  his  genius  was 
essentially  lyrical,  and  his  love  of  a  story  made  him 
our  most  natural  balladist.  "  We  have  no  American 

ballad-writer,"  says  Bayard  Taylor,  "that 

A  Balladist 
is,  writer  of  ballads  founded  on  our  national 

history  and  tradition,  who  can  be  compared  with  him, 
either  in  the  range  or  skillful  treatment  of  his  mate 
rial."  He  was  the  first  to  use  the  Indian  legends, 


244  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

but  "  Mogg  Megone  "  and  the  "  Bridal  of  Pennacook  " 
are  heavily  overshadowed  by  "  Hiawatha."  With 
legends  of  witchcraft,  Quaker  persecution,  and  other 
themes  of  local  tradition,  he  was  supremely  success 
ful.  Folklore  is  closely  associated  in  his  interest 
with  external  nature.  To  him  nature  was  not  majes 
tic  and  solemn,  as  to  Bryant,  but  cheerful  and  com 
fort  giving,  rather,  delighting  the  senses  with  the 
perfume  of  clover,  apple  blossoms,  and  beehives. 
Professor  Wendell  pertinently  notes  that  "  the  pecul 
iar  character  of  his  poetry  of  nature  is  that  it  is  not 
interpretative,  but  faithfully  representative."  This 
literalness  and  directness  constitute  its  special  charm. 

Such  music  as  the  woods  and  streams 
Sang  in  his  ear,  he  sang  aloud. 

The  faults  of  his  poetry  are  obvious  and  forgivable. 

He  lacked  the  power  of  artistic  compression,  the  dif- 

fuseness  of  the  thought  running  sometimes  into  mere 

commonplace.     His  liking  for  rhymed  tetrameters,  due 

perhaps  to  his  early  devotion  to  Burns,  pro- 

His  Faults 

duces  monotony ;  his  meter  often  halts, 
and  his  rhymes  are  occasionally  atrocious.  "  I  should 
be  hung  for  my  bad  rhymes  anywhere  south  of 
Mason  and  Dixon's  line,"  he  wrote  to  his  publisher, 
Fields,  to  whose  sensitive  ear  such  rhymes  as  martyt 
—  icater,  pen  —  been,  were  a  kind  of  mild  torture. 
But  in  spite  of  criticism  he  generally  held  to  his 
"  Yankee  rights  of  pronunciation."  However,  for  his 


v]  THE   ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT  245 

very  faults  we  love  him,  for  they  prove  him  true.  He 
did  not  possess  Longfellow's  cosmopolitan  culture, 
nor  Lowell's  affluent  knowledge  of  literature,  nor 
Holmes's  iridescent  wit,  but  his  spontaneous  direct 
ness  and  grand  sincerity  give  to  his  poetry  an  effec 
tiveness  that  art  alone  cannot  command. 

Although  much  that  Whittier  wrote  appealed  to 
temporary  interests,  and  his  chosen  audience  was 
always  the  plain  people,  yet  of  the  permanence  of  his 
fame  there  can  be  little  doubt.  "Of  all  American 
poets,"  says  Lowell,  "with  the  single  exception  of 
Longfellow,  Whittier  has  been  the  most  popular,  and 
in  his  case  more  than  in  that  of  any  other  the  popu 
larity  has  been  warmed  through  with  affection." 
Says  Stoddard :  "  Men  of  letters  respect  his  work  for 
its  sincerity,  simplicity,  and  downright  manliness, 
and  average  readers  of  poetry  respect  it  because  they 
can  understand  it.  There  is  not  a  grown  man  or 
woman  in  the  land  who  does  not  readily  Final 
enter  into  the  aspiration  and  discontent  of  Judgments 
'Maud  Muller/  and  into  the  glowing  patriotism  of 
'  Barbara  Frietchie.'  Whether  the  incident  which  is 
the  inspiration  of  the  latter  ever  occurred  is  more 
than  doubtful ;  nevertheless,  the  poem  is  one  that  the 
world  will  not  willingly  let  die.  The  reputation  of 
such  poems  is  immediate  and  permanent,  and  beyond 
criticism,  favorable  or  other ;  the  touch  of  nature  in 
them  is  beyond  all  art."  l 

1  Richard  Henry  Stoddard,  Scribner's  Magazine,  August,  1879. 


246  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

"  To  all  of  vis,  what  Wliittier  sings  is  dear.  For  he 
sings.  The  tune  is-  simple  ;  but  the  notes  are  fresh 
and  clear,  the  melody  has  the  thrill  of  the  robin's 
and  the  wood  thrush's  songs,  the  feeling  is  that  of 
the  genuine  lyric  that  comes  from  the  heart,  and 
therefore,  goes  to  it.  We  have  not  yet  had  world 
poets  in  America,  but  Whittier's  verse  is  that  to 
which  the  American  born  and  bred  responds  most 
naturally.  We  must  look  elsewhere  for  learning,  for 
a  philosophy,  for  exotic  beauty.  Whittier's  was  the 
voice  that  more  than  a  generation  ago  proclaimed 
most  clearly  the  duty  of  men,  and  that  now  calls  us 
most  sweetly  to  thoughts  of  olden  days."  l 


Clasp  Study.  —  V&now-bound  ;V5arefoot  Boy  ;  My  Playmate  ; 
Proem  ;  Memories  ;  Maud  Muller  ;  Skipper  Ireson's  Ride  Cell 
ing  the  Bees  :  Cassandra  Southwick  ;  The  Pine  Tree  ;  Randolph 
of  Roanoke  f^chabod  ;*'Tlhe  Lost  Occasion  f^Laus  Deo  ;VThe 
Last  Walk  in  Autumn  ;'-My  Psalm  ;  The  Eternal  Goodness. 

Class  Reading.  —  The  Tent  on  the  Beach  pAmong  the  Hills  ; 
Prelude  to  Among  the  HillsjVIn  School  Days;  Barbara  Frietchie; 
The  Pipes  of  Lucknow  ;  The  King's  Missive  ;  The  Fishermen  ; 
The  Corn  Song  ;  Cobbler  Keezar's  Vision  ;  Marguerite  ;  Massa 
chusetts  to  Virginia  ;  Mabel  Martin  ;^urns. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Pickard's  "  Life  and  Letters  of 
John  Greenleaf  Wliittier."  Kennedy's  "Life,  Genius,  and 
Writings  of  Whittier  "  and  "John  Greenleaf  Whittier,  the 
Poet  of  Freedom."  Underwood's  "John  Greenleaf  Whittier." 
Linton's  "John  Greenleaf  Whittier"  (Great  Writers).  Mrs. 
Fields's  "Whittier:  Notes  of  his  Life  and  Friendships." 
Burton's  "John  Greenleaf  Whittier"  (Beacon  Biographies). 

1  Professor  G.  R.  Carpenter,  "Library  of  the  World's  Best 
Literature." 


v]  THE   ANT1SLAVERY   MOVEMENT  247 

Mary  B.  Claniii's  "  Personal  Recollections  of  Whittier." 
Flower's  "  Whittier,  Prophet,  Seer  and  Man."  Gilder's 
"Authors  at  Home."  Wolfe's  "Literary  Shrines."  Miss 
Mitford's  "  Recollections  of  a  Literary  Life."  Shepard's  "  Pen 
Pictures  of  Modern  Authors. "  Stedman's  "  Poets  of  America." 
Richardson's  "American  Literature."  Woodberry's  "Makers 
of  Literature."  Wendell's  "  Stelligeri"  and  '•  Literary  History 
of  America."  Lowell's  "Fable  for  Critics."  Higginson's 
"Contemporaries."  Lawton's  "New  England  Poets."  Hazle- 
tine's  "Chats  about  Books,  Poets,  and  Novelists." 

Poets'  Tributes. — -Longfellow's  "Three  Silences  of  Moli- 
nos."  Lowell's  "To  Whittier,  on  his  Seventy-fifth  Birthday." 
Holmes's  "For  Whittier's  Seventieth  Birthday,"  "To  John 
Greenleaf  Whittier,"  and  "In  Memory  of  John  Greenle'af 
Whittier."  Taylor's  "A  Friend's  Greeting."  Hayne's  "To 
the  Poet  Whittier."  Stedman's  "Ad  Vatem "  and  "Ad 
Vigilem."  E.  S.  Phelps's  "Whittier."  Lucy  Larcom's 
"J.  G.  W."  Cranch's  "To  John  Greenleaf  Whittier." 


HARRIET   BEECHER   STOWE 
1811-1896 

When  Lincoln  first  met  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  he 
seized  her  hand  saying,  "  Is  this  the  little  woman  who 
made  this  great  war  ?  "  Such,  widely,  has  been  the 
estimate  of  the  influence  of  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin " 
upon  American  history.  Mrs.  Stowe  was  not  a  great 
writer,  but  she  wrote  one  great  book,  and  although 
she  wrote  indefatigably  until  extreme  old  age,  and 
published  thirty  volumes  of  stories  and  sketches,  her 
rank  among  the  immortals  is  determined  by  this  one 
impulse  of  genius.  It  was  the  outpouring  of  a  heart 
"bursting  with  anguish";  she  often  spoke  of  the 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

writing  as  having  been  compelled  by  a  higher  power ; 
in  answer  to  a  compliment  she  once  said,  "  I  did  not 
write  it ;  God  wrote  it." 

The  story  of  Mrs.  Stowe's  girlhood  presents  an 
interesting  picture  of  New  England  life  at  the  begin 
ning  of  the  century.  She  was  born  in  Litchfield, 
Conn.,  in  1811,  one  of  the  eleven  children  of  the 
Rev.  Lyman  Beecher,  of  whom  the  most  distinguished 
was  the  pulpit  orator,  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  The 
atmosphere  of  her  youth  was  strongly  theological. 
Her  father's  library  contained  only  such  books  as 
Bell's  "  Sermons,"  Toplady's  "  On  Predestination,"  and 
Law's  "  Serious  Call,"  which  filled  her  with  a  "  vague 
awe,"  and  led  her  to  wonder  if  she  "should  ever  be 
old  enough  to  know  what  it  was  all  about." 

Girlhood 

Her  imagination  was  first  fired  by  a  copy  of 
the  "  Arabian  Nights  "  which  she  found  at  the  bottom 
of  a  barrel  of  musty  sermons ;  and  the  discovery  of  a 
fragment  of  "  Don  Quixote,"  lying  "  in  forty  or  fifty 
disjecta  membra  amid  Calls,  Appeals,  Sermons,  Replies, 
and  Rejoinders,"  was  to  her,  she  says,  "like  the  rising 
of  an  enchanted  island  out  of  an  ocean  of  mud."  Her 
first  public  appearance  was  at  twelve  years  of  age, 
with  a  school  composition  entitled  "  Can  the  Immor 
tality  of  the  Soul  be  proved  by  the  Light  of  Nature  ?  " 
She  dreamed  of  becoming  a  poet  and  wrote  verses  of 
some  merit,  but  for  this  she  was  reproved  by  her  sister 
Catharine  and  put  to  studying  Butler's  "  Analogy." 
From  1832  to  1850  she  lived  in  Cincinnati,  where  her 


v]  THE  ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT  249 

husband  was  associated  with  her  father  in  founding 
Lane  Theological  Seminary.  There  she  gathered  the 
knowledge  and  experience  out  of  which  her  great 
book  was  made.  In  1850,  when  men's  hearts  were 
aflame  with  indignation  at  Webster's  Seventh  of  March 
speech,  a  sister  wrote  from  Boston :  "  Hattie,  if  I  could 
use  a  pen  as  you  can,  I  would  write  something  to 
make  this  whole  nation  feel  what  an  accursed  thing 
slavery  is."  Crushing  the  letter  in  her  hand  as  she 
read  it  aloud  to  her  family,  she  said:  "I  will  write 
something.  I  will  if  I  live." 

In  the  following  April,  1851,  the  first  chapter  of 
"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  "  appeared  in  the  National  Era, 
an  antislavery  paper  published  at  Washington.  The 
next  year  the  completed  story  was  published  in  book 
form  and  over  three  hundred  thousand  copies  were 
sold  within  a  twelve-month.  The  success  was  phe 
nomenal.  No  American  book  has  ever  approached  its 
circulation,  and  no  novel  in  the  language,  l 

probably,  has  been  so  widely  read.     It  has  Tom's 
been  translated  as  many  as  forty  times  and 
into  all  the  tongues  of  the  civilized  world.     Its  influ 
ence  in  arousing  the  public  conscience  was  tremen 
dous,   for   it   pictured   the   evils   of    slavery   with   a 
dramatic  vividness  to  minds  that  had  hitherto  viewed 
it  only  theoretically  and  afar  off;   the  argument  was 
the  stronger  also  because   she  strove  to  paint  with 
fairness  the  bright  as  well  as  the  dark  features  of  the 
system.     The  literary  qiialities  of  this  work  are  well 


250  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

summarized  by  Professor  Beers :  "  It  is  easy  now  to 
point  out  defects  of  taste  and  art  in  this  masterpiece, 
to  show  that  the  tone  is  occasionally  melodramatic, 
that  some  of  the  characters  are  conventional,  and 
that  the  literary  execution  is  in  parts  feeble  and 
in  others  coarse.  In  spite  of  all  it  remains  true 
that  ( Uncle  Tom's  Cabin '  is  a.  great  book,  the  work 
of  genius  seizing  instinctively  upon  its  opportunity 
and  uttering  the  thought  of  the  time  with  a  power 
that  thrilled  the  heart  of  the  nation  and  of  the 
world." 

Mrs.  Stowe  wrote  a  second  story  of  slavery,  "  Dred ; 
A  Tale  of  the  Great  Dismal  Swamp  ";  and  she  pictured 
New  England  life  with  literary  skill,  and  often  with 
Her  Minor  delicious  humor,  in  "  The  Minister's  "Woo- 
works  ing»  and  "Oldtown  Folks."  The  char 

acter  of  Sam  Lawson  in  the  latter  is  one  of  the  choice 
figures  of  American  fiction.  In  this  field  of  quaint, 
domestic  realism  she  was  the  precursor  of  Mary  E. 
Wilkins,  Kate  Douglas  Wiggin,  Sarah  Orne  Jewett, 
and  others  who  are  now  popular.  When  nearing  her 
seventieth  year  she  wrote  "Poganuc  People,"  which 
Mrs.  Fields  thinks  "  one  of  the  most  exquisite  of  her 
books  of  sketches."  But  everything  that  she  after 
ward  wrote  sank  quickly  into  insignificance  in  com 
parison  with  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  which  continues 
to  command  an  almost  universal  interest. 

Reading  and   Discussion.  —  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  ;    Oldtowu 

Folks. 


v]  THE   ANTISLAVERY   MOVEMENT  251 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  C.  E.  Stowe's  "Life  of  Harriet 
Beecher  Stowe."  Mrs.  Fields's  "Life  and  Letters  of  Harriet 
Beecher  Stowe."  New  England  Magazine,  September,  189(5 
(George  Willis  Cooke).  Atlantic  Monthly,  September,  1896 
(Charles  Dudley  Warner).  Carpenter's  "American  Prose" 
(Richard  Burton). 

HISTORICAL   BACKGROUND 

Winsor's  "Memorial  History  of  Boston,"  Vol.  Ill,  chap.  6. 
Wilson's  "Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power  in  America." 
Rhodes's  "  History  of  the  United  States  from  the  Compromise 
of  1850."  Greeley's  "The  American  Conflict."  McMaster's 
"  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  V,  chap.  45. 
Goldwin  Smith's  "United  States,"  chaps.  4,  5.  Higginson's 
"Cheerful  Yesterdays"  and  "Contemporaries."  Grimke's 
"Garrison"  and  "Sumner''  (American  Reformers  Series). 
Garrison's  "William  Lloyd  Garrison  :  The  Story  of  his  Life." 
Samuel  J.  May's  "Some  Recollections  of  our  Antislavery  Con 
flict."  Birney's  "James  G.  Birney  and  his  Times."  William 
Still's  "Underground  Railroad."  Siebert's  "Underground 
Railway  from  Slavery  to  Freedom."  Von  Hoist's  "Constitu 
tional  History  of  the  United  States,"  Vol.  II,  chap.  2,  and 
"John  C.  Calhoun."  Channing's  "  Works,"  Vols.  II,  V,  and 
VI.  Johnston's  "American  Orations,"  Vols.  II  and  III. 
Morse's  "John  Quincy  Adams."  chap.  3.  Burgess's  "The 
Middle  Period"  (American  History  Series)  chaps.  11,  18-21. 
Wilson's  "Division  and  Reunion  ''  (Epochs  of  American  His 
tory).  Julia  Ward  Howe's  "  Reminiscences."  Schurz's 
"Henry  Clay."  Lodge's  "Daniel  Webster."  Davis's  "Rise 
and  Fall  of  the  Confederate  Government."  Chamberlin's 
"John  Brown"  (Beacon  Biographies).  Chadwick's  "Theo 
dore  Parker,  Preacher  and  Reformer."  Old  South  Leaflets, 
78,  79,  80,  81,  82,  83,  84,  85. 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE   CAMBRIDGE  POETS 

THE  period  from  about  1835  to  1875  may  be  re 
garded  as  the  Augustan  Age  of  American  literature, 
and  the  imperial  center  of  intellectual  activity  during 
that  period  was  Boston.  The  greater  part  of  our 
literature  that  has  been  stamped  with  the  seal  of 
permanent  approval  was  produced  between  those 
dates,  and  its  producers  were  associated  in  a  charm- 
The  Literary  ing  literary  brotherhood,  of  which  Boston 
Capital  was  the  accustomed  meeting  place ;  for  in 

their  relations  to  literature  Cambridge  and  Concord 
are  to  be  regarded  as  organic  parts  of  Boston,  asso 
ciated  ganglia  of  a  single  brain.  It  was  not  an  ex 
travagant  boast  of  Dr.  Holmes  that  Boston  was  then 
"the  thinking  center  of  the  continent."  No  other 
American  city  has  enjoyed  such  exclusive  distinction 
of  literary  eminence,  and  with  the  increasing  diffusion 
of  literary  interests  it  is  probable  that  no  city  will 
ever  again  achieve  such  intellectual  honors.  "  Litera 
ture  had  a  high  lineage  in  Boston  in  those  days,"  says 
Howells,  "a  real  aristocracy  of  intellect.  To  say 
Prescott,  Motley,  Parkman,  Lowell,  Norton,  Higgin- 
son,  Dana,  Emerson,  Channing,  was  to  say  patrician, 

252 


CHAP.   Vl] 


THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS 


253 


in  the  truest  and  often  in  the  best  sense,  if  not  the 
largest.  Boston  was  small,  but  these  were  of  her  first 
citizens,  and  their  primacy,  in  its  way,  was  of  the  same 
quality  as  that,  say,  of  the  chief  families  of  Venice." 

The  common  nursery  of  these  intellectual  aristocrats 
was  Harvard  College.     Cambridge  was  then  a  quiet 


The  Harvard  Gate 

country  village,  with  broad  streets,  blooming  gardens, 
and  fragrant  orchards,  a  place  where  noble  thought 
had  room  to  expand  in  touch  with  woods  and  fields 
and  the  high  heavens.  There  in  the  aca 
demic  shade  of  spreading  elms,  "  peaceful 
among  the  storied  scenes  of  war,  stands  the  university, 
benign  mother  of  educated  New  England,  coeval  with 
the  Puritan  settlement,  which  has  given  the  master 


Cambridge 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

impulse  to  American  civilization."  Looking  out  upon 
the  college  green  was  the  old  "  gambrel-roofed  house," 
rich  in  Revolutionary  associations,  the  beloved  birth 
place  of  the  "  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table  " ;  and 
"  somewhat  back  from  the  village  street,"  in  a  stately 
mansion  whose  walls  had  known  familiarly  the  voices 
of  George  and  Martha  Washington,  dwelt  Longfellow 
in  the  perfect  peace  of  domestic  happiness,  distilling 
in  the  alembic  of  his  pure  soul  imperishable  song; 
and  a  ten  minutes'  walk  beyond  lived  Lowell,  in  poetic 
seclusion,  among  the  birds  and  books  of  "Elmwood." 
There  were  professors  in  those  days  who  were  more 
than  teachers  and  "  specialists  "  ;  indeed,  it  is  a  pecul 
iar  honor  to  the  teaching  guild  that  the  two  greatest 
American  poets  were  called  "professors"  during  the 
better  part  of  their  lives. 

A  new  epoch  in  American  culture  had  been  opened 
about  1820  by  the  lectures  of  Everett  and  the  elo 
quence  of  Channing.  Jared  Sparks  had  laid  the 
A  culture  foundation  for  a  school  of  American  his- 
Epoch  tory.  Ticknor  and  Longfellow  removed 

much  of  the  provincial  hardness  of  letters  by  bringing 
students  into  contact  with  the  choicest  literature  of 
German  and  the  Romance  languages ;  and  Lowell  and 
Xorton  followed  them  in  diffusing  the  inspiring  influ 
ences  of  European  art  and  poetry.  Holmes  mingled 
wit  and  wisdom  in  the  lecture  rooms  of  the  medical 
school  with  his  inimitable  zest;  while  Felton,  the  ac 
complished  Grecian,  and  Agassiz,  the  scientist,  contrib- 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE  POETS  255 

uted  to  culture  quite  as  much  as  to  learning.  With 
the  exception  of  Hawthorne,  whose  star,  like  Milton's, 
"  dwelt  apart,"  all  of  the  great  New  England  group 
were  closely  related  to  Harvard  College.  Even  the 
farmer  poet  of  Essex  was  made  an  "overseer"  of 
the  university.  This  intimate  and  dominant  relation 
ship  to  American  literature  sustained  by  Harvard 
during  this  period  is  not  likely  to  be  established 
again  by  any  American  college. 

A  special  focal  influence  in  literature  at  this  time 
was  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  a  magazine  whose  unique 
distinction  among  American  literary  periodicals  is  to 
have  been  purely  literary  throughout  its  whole  career. 
Established  in  1857  by  a  coterie  of  Cam-  The  Atlantic 
bridge  writers,  who  thereafter  constituted  Monthly 
the  famous  "  Saturday  Club,"  and  edited  successively 
by  men  who  stand  for  our  finest  literary  life, — Lowell, 
Fields,  Howells,  Aldrich,  and  Scudder,  —  it  has  repre 
sented  the  best  ideals  and  traditions  of  literary  art. 
To  the  columns  of  this  magazine  were  contributed, 
almost  exclusively,  the  choicest  productions  of  Emer 
son,  Longfellow,  Holmes,  Whittier,  Lowell,  and  others 
of  the  New  England  group. 

The  members  of  this  distinguished  group  are  char 
acterized  by  certain  qualities  that  are  supremely  sig 
nificant  in  respect  to  the  development  of  American 
thought  and  art.  The  character  of  the  Puritans 
entered  into  their  work;  they  had  lofty  ideals  of 
art,  and  pursued  them  with  scrupulous  earnestness. 


256  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Literature  with  them  was  not  a  diversion,  or  a  pro 
fession,  so  much  as  a  sacred  trust.     And  their  writing 

was  always  colored  with  the  finest  moral- 
Moral  J 

Character  of  ity.  There  was  nothing  bohemian,  lawless, 
or  sensational  about  them;  no  apologies 
or  explanations  have  to  be  made  in  the  criticism 
of  their  lives  and  work.  Says  Professor  Wendell : 
"  These  men  are  our  leaders ;  and  they  are  noble 
leaders  to  follow.  Whatever  their  shortcomings, 
Avhatever  their  errors,  the  world  rarely  affords  the 
spectacle  of  such  a  group;  silently  chosen  from 
among  their  fellows  for  honest  work  honestly  done, 
honest  words  honestly  spoken,  these  men,  as  we  study 
their  lives,  triumphantly  prove  how  nearly  stainless 
human  manhood  may  be." 

The  midyears  of  this  period  were  golden  years  for  the  litera 
ture  of  the  English  tongue.  The  Victorian  Age  in  England,  the 
second  richest  period  in  English  literature,  was  at  its  highest 
point  of  productivity.  In  1847,  the  year  of  Longfellow's  "  Evan- 
geline "  and  Emerson's  "Poems,"  Tennyson's  "Princess," 
Thackeray's  "Vanity  Fair,"  and  Charlotte  Bronte's  "Jane 
Eyre  "  were  published.  The  next  year  saw  Macaulay's  "  His 
tory  of  England,"  from  which  modern  historical 
writing  dates.  Within  the  decade  from  1847  to 
1857  there  appeared  Tennyson's  "In  Memoriam" 
and  "Maud,"  Thackeray's  "Pendennis,"  "Henry  Esmond," 
"  Newcomes,"  "Virginians,"  "English  Humorists,"  and 
"Four  Georges,"  Dickens's  "Dombey  and  Son,"  "David 
Copperfield,"  "Bleak  House,"  and  "Little  Dorrit,"  Kings- 
ley's  "Hypatia"  and  "Westward  Ho!"  Ruskin's  "Stones 
of  Venice,"  "Seven  Lamps  of  Architecture,"  and  the  third 
niid  fourth  volumes  of  "Modern  Painters,"  Bulwer  Lytton's 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  257 

"Caxtons,"  "Harold,"  and  "My  Novel,"  Miss  Mulock's 
"John  Halifax,"  Trollope's  "  Barchester  Towers,"  the  first 
volumes  of  Froude's  "  History  of  England,"  Buckle's  "History 
of  Civilization,"  Carlyle's  "Latter-day  Pamphlets"  and  "Life 
of  John  Sterling,"  Landor's  "Imaginary  Conversations  of 
Greeks  and  Romans,"  Wordsworth's  "Prelude,"  Browning's 
"Men  and  Women"  and  "Christinas  Eve,"  Mrs.  Browning's 
"Aurora  Leigh"  and  "  Sonnets  from  the  Portuguese,"  Arnold's 
"Poems,"  and  Clough's  "  Bothie  of  Tober-na-Vuolich."  In 
America  during  the  same  decade  we  had  Longfellow's  "Golden 
Legend"  and  "Hiawatha,"  Lowell's  "Biglow  Papers,"  "Fable 
for  Critics"  and  "Vision  of  Sir  Launfal,"  Whittier's  "Voices 
of  Freedom,"  and  "Songs  of  Labor,"  Hawthorne's  "Scarlet 
Letter,"  "  House  of  Seven  Gables"  and  "  Blithedale  Romance," 
Emerson's  "Representative  Men,"  "English  Traits,"  and 
"Miscellanies,"  Mrs.  Stowe's  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  Thoreau's 
"  Waldeu,"  Bayard  Taylor's  "Poems  of  the  Orient,"  Motley's 
"Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,"  Parkman's  "Conspiracy  of 
Pontiac,"  and  Ilolmes's  "Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table." 
Few  decades  in  the  history  of  any  literature  can  be  found  with 
a  list  like  this.  The  next  year,  1858,  brought  forth  George 
Eliot's  "Scenes  from  Clerical  Life,"  and  Tennyson's  "Idylls 
of  the  King."  Surely  literature  then  dwelt  upon  the  heights, 
and  the  reading  public  enjoyed  a  precious  intimacy  with  fine 
minds. 

HENRY   WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW 
1807-1882 

The  first  American  Longfellow  settled  in  Newbury, 
Mass.,  in  1676,  and  married  a  sister  of  the  famous 
Judge  Sewall.  Stephen  Longfellow,  the  poet's  father, 
was  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  and  a  successful  lawyer  of 
Portland,  "the  beautiful  town  that  is  seated  by  the 
sea."  Here  the  son  Henry  was  born,  February  27, 


258 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE 


[CHAP. 


1807.  The  mother,  Zilpah  Wadsworth,  was  a  descend 
ant  of  Priscilla,  the  Puritan  maid,  who  did  not  marry 
Miles  Standish.  Thus  the  blood  of  both  Pilgrim  and 
Puritan  flowed  in  the  poet's  veins. 

In  early  childhood  Longfellow  showed  the  qualities 
that  characterized  his  whole  life,  tenderness,  gentle 
ness,  and  refined 
taste.  Having 
shot  a  robin  one 
day,  he  was  so 
grieved  upon 
looking  at  the 
dead  bird  that  he 
gave  up  that  form 
of  sport  forever. 
Throughout  his 
school  days  he 
showed  a  distaste 
for  all  rude 
sports.  At  seven 
years  of  age  he 
was  "half  through 
his  Latin  gram 
mar."  In  his  twelfth  year,  Irving's  "  Sketch  Book  " 
appeared,  and  this  he  read  with  "  ever-increasing  won- 
Youth  and  der  and  delight."  Authorship  began  at 
Education  thirteen  with  his  first  poem,  "  The  Battle 
at  Lovell's  Pond,"  published  in  the  Portland  Gazette. 
He  entered  Bowdoin  College  at  fourteen,  and  sus- 


Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow 


vx]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  259 

tained  tnroughout  his  course  the  reputation  of  being 
agreeable,  scholarly,  and  "  always  a  gentleman."  At 
graduation,  in  1825,  the  question  of  a  profession 
pressed  for  decision.  To  his  father  he  wrote :  "  I 
most  eagerly  aspire  after  future  eminence  in  litera 
ture  ;  my  whole  soul  burns  most  ardently  for  it." 
But  literature  was  in  those  days  an  impossible  pro 
fession  to  live  by.  For  the  "  Psalm  of  Life,"  when 
published,  he  was  promised  five  dollars,  and  received 
nothing.  Naturally,  the  prudent  father  urged  him  to 
study  law ;  but  the  way  to  a  career  of  letters  was  un 
expectedly  opened.  The  college  fathers,  having  noted 
the  promising  growth  of  his  scholarship  and  literary 
gifts,  offered  to  make  him  Professor  of  Modern  Lan 
guages,  after  suitable  preparation  by  study  in  Europe. 
Accordingly,  the  next  three  years  were  spent  with 
enthusiastic  delight  in  studying  the  languages  and 
literature  of  France,  Spain,  Italy,  and  Germany ;  and 
the  broad  familiarity  with  Old  World  culture  gained  at 
this  time  exercised  an  important  influence  upon  his 
whole  literary  career. 

Longfellow  spent  five  successful  years  at  Bowdoin, 
joyously  busy  with  his  studies,  preparing  text-books 
for  his  classes  in  French  and  Spanish,  writing  valu 
able  articles  for  the  North  American  Review,  and  con 
verting  his  notes  of  European  .travel  and  study  into 
the  charming  chapters  of  "  Outre-Mer,"  his  first  ar 
tistic  production,  published  in  1835.  In  1836  he 
succeeded  George  Ticknor  as  Professor  of  Modern 


260  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Languages  at  Harvard,  having  made  special  prepara 
tion  for  the  position  by  another  year's  study  in 
Professor-  Sweden,  Denmark,  Holland,  and  Germany, 
ships;  First  At  Rotterdam  the  first  great  sorrow  of  his 

Sorrow ; 

• '  Hyperion ' '  life  came  to  him  in  the  death  of  his  wife, 
whom  he  had  married  in  Portland  in  1831,  "  the  being 
beauteous  "  of  the  poem,  "  Footsteps  of  Angels."  The 
effect  of  this  sorrow  may  be  traced  in  his  writing  for 
some  years.  The  "Psalm  of  Life,"  published  two 
years  later,  was  "  a  voice  from  my  inmost  heart,"  he 
said.  The  beautiful  romance,  "  Hyperion,"  is  largely 
a  record  of  his  thoughts  and  experiences  during  this 
period.  He  speaks  autobiographically  through  the 
hero,  Paul  Flamming,  who  "  buried  himself  in  old 
dusty  books,  and  worked  his  way  diligently  through 
the  ancient  poetic  lore  of  Germany."  With  the  new 
poets  of  Germany,  also,  Goethe,  Heine,  Uhland,  and 
the  others,  he  made  himself  intimately  familiar,  and 
to  the  flowery  Jean  Paul  Richter  he  was  strongly 
drawn. 

At  Cambridge  he  became  at  once  popular  both  in 
college  and  in  society.  Splendidly  equipped  for  his 
work,  a  master  of  all  the  literary  languages  of  Europe, 
At  he  opened  a  new  world  to  the  students  by 

"avoicesSof  bringing  to  them  the  rich  treasures  of  Old 
the  Night"  World  art,  tradition,  romance,  and  song. 
Under  the  charm  of  his  refined  personality  a  new 
atmosphere  of  literary  culture  was  created,  which  has 
given  a  transcendent  fame  to  Cambridge  and  her 


vi]  TIIK    CAMBRIDGE    POETS  -!»>1 

spiritual  suburb,  Boston.  He  took  rooms,  in  1837, 
in  the  Craigie  liouse,  celebrated  as  the  headquarters 
of  Washington,  which  Avas  henceforth  to  be  his  home. 
Here,  in  Washington's  chamber,  he  wrote  "Hyperion" 
and  "  Voices  of  the  Night,"  which  were  published  in 


Longfellow's  Home  in  Cambridge 

1839.  With  the  latter  his  fame  as  a  poet  began.  This 
cherished  little  volume  contained  the  "Psalm  of  Life," 
"'Footsteps  of  Angels,"  "The  Reaper  and  the  Flowers," 
and  other  favorites,  with  his  translations,  and  five  of 
his  college  poems  that  he  thought  worthy  of  preserva 
tion.  The  early  poems  were  devoted  to  nature,  and 
echoed  the  voice  of  Bryant ;  in  the  others  a  deep-toned 
personal  chord  was  sounded.  Two  years  later  ap 


262  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

peared  the  striking  ballads,  "  The  Skeleton  in  Armor  " 
and  "  The  Wreck  of  the  Hesperus,"  which  established 
immediately  Longfellow's  superiority  as  a  story-teller 
in  verse.  For  strength,  simplicity,  and  swiftness  these 
are  among  the  few  modern  ballads  that  are  worthy  of 
comparison  with  the  minstrelsy  of  old. 

He  made  a  brief  trip  to  Europe  in  1842  for  his 
health.  A  visit  to  Bruges  gave  us  the  sweet  "  Belfry  " 
poems.  A  sonnet  written  during  this  absence,  too  per 
sonal  for  publication,  expressed  the  yearning  of  his 
spirit  for  high  and  noble  things  :  — 

Half  of  my  life  is  gone,  and  I  have  let 
The  years  slip  from  me  and  have  not  fulfilled 
The  aspirations  of  my  youth,  to  build 
Some  tower  of  song  with  lofty  parapet. 

During  the  return  voyage  he  wrote  the  "  Poems  on 
Slavery,"  which  added  another  poetic  voice  to  the 
Third  Trip  cause  of  freedom ;  but  they  did  not  equal 
to  Europe  jn  passionate  power  the  poems  of  Whittier 
on  the  same  subject.  Soon  after  his  return  he  married 
Frances  Appleton,  the  Mary  Ashburton  of  "Hype 
rion,"  "  whom  to  remember,"  says  William  Winter,  "  is 
to  wonder  that  so  much  loveliness  and  worth  could  take 
a  mortal  shape."  His  next  volume  was  "  The  Spanish 
Student,"  a  drama,  which  suggests  the  variety  of  form 
and  subject  for  which  his  genius  seemed  always  seek 
ing.  This  was  followed,  in  1846,  by  the  "  Belfry  of 
Bruges,"  a  volume  containing  some  of  his  finest  lyrics, 
such  as  the  "  Arsenal  at  Springfield,"  "  The  Bridge," 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  263 

"  The  Arrow  and  the  Song,"  and  the  "  Old  Clock  on 
the  Stairs."  Nothing  more  exquisitely  artistic  and 
beautiful  than  some  of  these  songs  has  appeared  in 
our  literature.  But  the  author  was  already  at  work 
upon  a  loftier  "tower  of  song." 

In  1847,  the  year  of  Tennyson's  "  Princess,"  "  Evan- 
geline  "  was  published.  The  theme  was  given  to  the 
poet  by  Hawthorne,  a  story  of  love  and  pathos  well 
suited  to  his  tastes. 

Ye  who  believe  in  affection  that  hopes,  and  endures,  and 

is  patient, 
Ye  who  believe  in  the  beauty  and  strength  of  woman's 

devotion, 
List  to  the  mournful  tradition  still  sung  by  the  pines  of 

the  forest. 

The  meter,  the  classical  dactylic  hexameter,  was  a  bold 
experiment,  and  much  criticised  as  un-English,  but  the 
marvelous  popularity  of  the  poem  has  been  «Evan- 
a  full  vindication  of  the  author's  judgment.  £eline  " 
Dr.  Holmes  read  it  as  he  would  have  "  listened  to  some 
exquisite  symphony."  The  lingering  melancholy,  the 
grace  and  tenderness  of  this  simple  tale,  wandering 
through  scenes  of  primeval  and  pastoral  beauty,  exer 
cise  an  irresistible  charm  upon  readers  of  every  class 
and  condition.  It  is  the  "  flower  of  American  idyls." 
Another  successful  experiment  with  English  hexame 
ter  was  made  in  the  "Courtship  of  Miles  Standish," 
in  which  the  poet,  quite  unlike  himself,  introduces  a 
frolicsome  humor,  and  softens  the  hard  picture  of  the 


264  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Plymouth  colony  with  poetic  tints  for  which  we  are 
delightedly  grateful. 

Next  to  "  Evangeline  "  in  original  merit  is  "  Hiawa 
tha,"  published  in  1855,  a  poem  more  redolent  of  the 
primitive  soil  of  America  than  anything  else  in  our 
literature.  It  is  a  forest  epic,  an  "Indian  Edda." 
Here  Longfellow's  fondness  for  experiment  is  again 
seen.  The  form,  borrowed  from  the  "  Kalevala  "  of 
Finland,  consists  of  the  -trochaic  tetrameter  verse,  then 
"Hiawa-  almost  unknown  to  English  poetry,  with 

parallelism,  or  the  repetition  of  lines  in 
slightly  varied  form.  It  was  strange  and  curious,  and 
the  critics  and  parodists  made  merry  with  the  simple 
verses,  but  it  has  won  a  complete  triumph  over  cavil 
and  criticism.  It  is  "  sweet  and  wholesome  as  maize," 
wrote  Emerson.  The  Indians  may  not  be  more  true 
to  fact  than  Cooper's  Indians,  but  the  truth  is  suffi 
cient  for  imaginative  art.  "  '  Hiawatha '  is  the  one 
poem,"  says  Stedman,  "  that  beguiles  the  reader  to  see 
the  birch  and  ash,  the  heron  and  eagle  and  deer,  as 
they  seem  to  the  red  man  himself,  and  to  join  for  the 
moment  in  his  simple  creed  and  wonderment." 

Soon  after  "  Evangeline "  appeared  Longfellow's 
final  venture  in  prose,  "  Kavanagh,"  a  story  of  New 
England  village  life,  which  Hawthorne  called  "  a  most 

precious  and  rare  book,  as  fragrant  as  a 

Prose  Works 

bunch  of  flowers."  But  his  prose  was  too 
unreal  to  survive ;  its  delicacy  and  elegance  were 
too  obvious.  The  story  served,  however,  to  express 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  265 

principles  and  ideals  that  were  fundamental  to  his  life 
work.  "  Outre-Mer,"  written  in  the  manner  of  Irving, 
helped  to  lift  the  American  mind  out  of  provincialism 
and  guide  it  to  treasures  of  beauty  beyond  the  sea, 
"  Hyperion  "  is  a  blithe-hearted  expression  of  noble 
aspiration,  nurtured  by  romance  and  sentiment.  "  I 
called  it  Hyperion"  he  said,  "  because  it  move*  on  high, 
among  clouds  and  stars."  It  rendered  an  inestimable 
service  in  introducing  German  poetry  to  the  NewAVorld, 
and  the  charm  of  its  descriptions  is  not  yet  lost,  for  it 
is  the  companion  of  the  lettered  traveler  in  Germany, 
as  the  "  Marble  Faun  "  is  in  Italy. 

That  there  might  be  no  irksome  restraint  upon  his 
creative  energies,  he  resigned  his  professorship  in  1854. 
desiring  the  free  enjoyment  of  what  he   called   his 
"  ideal  home-world  of  poetry."   Henceforth 
his  life  moved  on  in  beautiful  tranouility,    Second  £reat 

A  sorrow ; 

broken  once,  in  1861,  by  the  tragic  death  of   "  Tales  of  a 

his  wife.     The  burden  of  this  sacred  sor-  ^a^lde 

Inn 

row  he  never  revealed  to  the  public ;  in  his 
portfolio  was  found  after  his  death  the  touching  son 
net,  "  The  Cross  of  Snow  "  :  — 

Here  in  this  room  she  died  ;  and  soul  more  white 
Never  through  martyrdom  of  fire  was  led 
To  its  repose. 

Tinged  as  is  his  poetry  generally  with  the  pathos  of 
afternoon  shadows,  he  seldom  sounds  a  note  of  per 
sonal  grief,  as  in  the  tender  lyric  "Resignation," 
which  beautifully  enshrines  a  family  SOITOAV.  The 


266  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

happy  companionship  of  his  children  and  the  consola 
tion  of  work  were  left  to  him.  As  Bryant  under  simi 
lar  circumstances  turned  to  Homer,  Longfellow  turned 
to  his  "  dear  Dante "  and  completed  a  translation  of 
the  "  Divine  Comedy,"  which  is  one  of  the  best  Eng 
lish  versions,  famous  especially  for  its  closeness  to  the 
original.  Meanwhile  he  was  beginning  the  "  Tales  of 
a  Wayside  Inn,"  told  by  a  group  of  friends  about  the 
blazing  hearth  of  the  quaint  old  tavern  in  Sudbury. 
The  idea  is  as  old  as  Chaucer  and  Boccaccio,  but  here 
receives  a  new  grace,  for  Longfellow  was  the  best  of 
modern  trouveres.  Among  these  tales  are  the  favor 
ites  "  King  Robert  of  Sicily,"  « Paul  Revere's  Ride," 
and  the  "Birds  of  Killing-worth,"  the  last  being  the 
only  one  in  which  the  story  is  of  the  poet's  own 
invention. 

A  final  visit  to  Europe  was  made  in  1868,  when  the 
poet  was  honored  with  degrees  from  both  Oxford  and 

Cambridge.     His   singing   voice    remained 
Last  Years  . 

unimpaired  to  the  last ;  indeed  increasing 

in  depth  and  fullness  of  tone  as  old  age  approached. 
"  Morituri  Salutamus,"  read  before  the  survivors  of  his 
college  class,  fills  the  soul  like  organ  music.  The 
"Hanging  of  the  Crane,"  a  charming  domestic  idyl, 
and  "  Keramos,"  the  poem  of  the  potter,  are  worthy 
companions  of  the  "Building  of  the  Ship."  Of 
"Ultima  Thule,"  published  in  1880,  the  motto  of 
which  was  from  the  prayer  of  Horace,  that  he  might 
"  pass  an  old  age  neither  unworthy  nor  without  song," 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  267 

Lowell  wrote,  "Never  was  your  hand  firmer."  His 
last  poem,  the  "  Bells  of  San  Bias,"  was  finished 
March  15,  1882;  on  Friday,  March  24,  the  bells  of 
Cambridge  tolled  the  heavy  news  of  his  death.  He 
passed  from  earth  like  the  golden  sun,  that  deepens 
its  rich  coloring  until  it  sinks  below  the  horizon,  and 
fills  the  heavens  with  a  glorious  afterglow. 

The  life  of  Longfellow  was  itself  a  poem,  gracious, 
tranquil,  and  beautiful.  His  escutcheon,  had  he  pos 
sessed  one,  should  have  borne  the  Edelweiss.  "  His 
nature,"  says  Lowell,  "was  consecrated  personai 
ground,  into  which  no  unclean  spirit  could  Qualities 
ever  enter."  Professor  Norton  adds,  "  The  sweet 
ness,  the  gentleness,  the  grace,  the  purity,  the  hu 
manity  of  his  verse  were  the  image  of  his  own  soul." 
Innate  delicacy  and  refinement  were  not  more  pro 
nounced  characteristics  than  his  free-flowing  sympa 
thy.  He  loved  his  neighbor  and  aided  him  through 
varied  forms  of  charity ;  he  loved  children ;  he  loved 
to  help  young  authors,  struggling  with  first  failures , 
and  his  patience  with  strange  visitors,  relic  hunters, 
and  autograph  collectors  was  phenomenal.  Not  even 
for  critics,  whom  he  loved  least  of  all,  had  he  ever  a 
bitter  word.  When  Poe  was  attacking  him  with  his 
gad-fly  sting,  he  was  reading  and  praising  the  poems 
of  his  envious  rival.  There  was  not  a  drop  of  acid  in 
his  nature.  His  soul,  if  not  as  lofty,  was  as  generous 
and  serene  as  Emerson's. 

His    poetry  expresses    the    finer   life   of    common 


268  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

humanity.  No  poet  of  English  speech  has  so  en 
deared  himself  to  the  general  heart ;  he  is  the  peo 
ple's  poet,  voicing  universal  emotions ;  his  song  rises 
Literary  like  Wordsworth's  lark,  always  "true  to 
Qualities  ^he  kindred  points  of  heaven  and  home." 
Xo  preaching  was  ever  more  fruitful  in  the  bestowal 
of  peace  and  consolation  than  such  poems  as  the 
"Psalm  of  Life"  and  " Resignation " ;  and  "Excel 
sior,"  artistically  defective  and  threadbare  in  senti 
ment  as  it  may  be,  is  still  to  thousands  what  it  was  to 
Holmes,  "  a  poem  that  springs  upward  like  a  flame, 
and  carries  the  soul  up  with  it  in  its  aspiration  for  the 
unattainable  ideal."  Beauty,  grace,  and  tenderness 
are  the  marks  of  his  power;  he  is  never  passionate, 
Byronic,  or  Browningesque.  He  was  as  sensitive  to 
beauty  as  Keats,  and  his  workmanship,  directed  by 
unerring  taste  and  a  delicate  perception  of  harmonies, 
is  uniformly  excellent.  The  style  is  clear  as  crystal, 
and  the  melody  is  never  marred  by  discords.  There 
is  none  of  Whittier's  impetuous  rush,  or  of  Lowell's 
pungent  humor.  The  limitations  of  his  poetry  are 
obvious ;  the  themes  are  commonplace  and  the  thought 
is  not  profound ;  but  so  to  treat  the  commonplace  as 
to  make  it  eternally  interesting  and  beautiful,  to  im 
mortalize  a  "Village  Blacksmith"  in  song,  requires  a 
high,  if  not  the  highest,  order  of  genius.  His  love  of 
romanticism,  rich  expression,  and  moral  diffusiveness 
is  restrained  by  a  classic  taste  for  simplicity;  a  .fine 
balance  of  thought  and  expression  is  maintained, 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  260 

which,  if  it  sometimes  produces  monotony,  always 
avoids  obscurity  and  sensationalism.  The  dominant 
note  of  his  song  is  that  of  the  hermit  thrush,  whose 
prolonged  note  of  sweet  melancholy  adds  to  the 
enchantment  of  forest  twilight ;  his  sadness  is  not 
the  sadness  that  depresses,  but  the  gentle  voice  of 
yearning  that  purifies  and  exalts.  "  He  touches  the 
spirit  with  an  infinite  softness,  like  a  hand  from  the 
other  world." 

Longfellow  has  been  called  the  "  least  national  of 
our  poets " ;  but  what  is  thought  to  be  national  is 
often  only  provincial.  Although  by  taste,  tempera 
ment,  and  education  he  was  strongly  Longfellow's 
drawn  toward  Europe,  yet  he  was  not  Nationalism 
lacking  in  patriotism.  His  greatest  poems  are  thor 
oughly  native,  and  the  "  Building  of  the  Ship,"  with 
its  magnificent  close,  comes  near  to  being  our  finest 
national  poem.  His  culture  was  cosmopolitan ;  he 
was  at  home  in  any  part  of  the  Old  World  where 
legend,  art,  or  song  has  left  a  shrine.  If  the  castled 
Rhine  inspired  Lim  as  genuinely  as  his  own  Charles, 
our  literature  has  been  the  better  for  it.  All  the 
world  was  his  Hybla,  from  which  to  gather  honeyed 
verse.  There  was  some  truth  in  Margaret  Fuller's 
pert  criticism  upon  his  early  poems,  that  he  produced 
"  flowers  of  all  climes,  and  wild  flowers  of  none." 
And  others  reproached  him  with  being  a  "  smooth- 
throated  mocking  bird  warbling  a  foreign  melody." 
But  the  native  wood-notes  came,  and  his  pages  are 


270  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

often  filled  with  the  odors  of  pines  and  hemlocks. 
His  fame  confirms  his  early  contention,  in  "  Kavan- 
agh,"  that  "  nationality  is  a  good  thing,  to  a  certain 
extent,  but  universality  is  better."  His  poems  are 
"household  words"  wherever  the  English  language 
is  spoken ;  in  England  he  is  read  more  widely  than 
Tennyson,  and  the  marble  bust  in  Westminster  Abbey, 
near  the  tomb  of  Chaucer,  is  a  fitting  symbol  of  his 
place  in  the  Valhalla  of  the  English  race. 

Longfellow  sought  eminence  in  each  of  the  three 
great  departments  of  verse,  — lyric,  epic,  and  dramatic. 
The  power  of  his  lyrics  is  attested  by  their  extraordi 
nary  popularity.  The  world  cannot  tire  of  the  sweet 

pensiveness  of  such  songs  as  "  The  Day  is 
Epics,  Done,"  and  "  The  Arrow  and  the  Song," 

or  of  the  prof ounder  music  of  the  "  Fire  of 
Drift- Wood,"  "  Sandalphon,"  and  "  Palingenesis."  He 
was  not  a  nature  poet,  but  the  sea  always  inspired 
him.  In  the  "  Secret  of  the  Sea  "  he  says :  — 

And  the  heart  of  the  great  ocean 
Sends  a  thrilling  pulse  through  me. 

His  sonnets,  some  of  them,  Lowell  thought  to  be  among 
"  the  most  beautiful  and  perfect  we  have  in  the  lan 
guage."  In  the  minor  forms  of  the  epic,  the  ballad 
and  the  metrical  tale,  he  touched  a  point  of  excellence 
overreached  in  his  own  age  only  by  Tennyson.  Like 
Tennyson,  he  was  pursued  to  the  end  by  the  desire 
to  produce  a  dramatic  masterpiece,  for  which  his  gen- 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  271 

ins  was  not  fitted.  The  early  "Spanish  Student"  is 
his  nearest  approach  to  a  play ;  "  Judas  Maccabaeus  " 
and  "  Michael  Angelo  "  are  interesting  failures ;  of  the 
elaborate  trilogy,  "  Christus,"  only  the  second  part, 
the  "  Golden  Legend,"  compels  admiration,  and  the 
abiding  charm  of  this  drama  of  medievalism  is  quite 
independent  of  the  dramatic  form. 

Translation  forms  a  conspicuous  part  of  Longfellow's 
work,  for  which  he  possessed  a  distinctive  taste  and 

happy  gift.     From  whatever  language  he 

Translations 
chose  gems  for  recuttmg,  he  performed  the 

delicate  work  with  remarkable  ease  and  accuracy.  He 
"  remained  all  his  life  a  translator,"  says  Beers,  "  and 
in  subtler  ways  than  by  direct  translation  he  infused 
the  fine  essence  of  European  poetry  into  his  own." 
Like  the  early  engravers  who  made  new  originals  from 
the  smoky  canvases  of  the  old  masters,  he  delighted 
in  recreating,  in  forms  of  his  own  exquisite  art,  the 
life  of  the  misty,  legendary  past. 

Longfellow  is  widely  regarded  as  "  the  leader  of  the 
American  choir/'  but  his  rank  among  his  fellow-poets 
is  of  slight  importance.     He  is  not  equal  to  them  at 
many  points;    he  did  not  have  Emerson's  spiritual 
breadth  and  insight,  nor  Whittier's  trenchant  strength, 
nor  Lowell's  versatile  gifts,  but  as  a  maker  Final 
of  artistic  verse,  as  a  poet  of  the  beautiful  Estimate 
and  of  the  human  affections,  his  position  of  superiority 
is  secure.     In  respect  to  these  qualities  Curtis's  judg 
ment  is  likely  to  stand:  "The  infinite  tenderness  and 


272  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAT. 

patience,  the  pathos  and  the  beauty  of  daily  life,  of 
familiar  emotion,  and  the  common  scene,  these  are  the 
significance  of  that  verse  whose  beautiful  and  simple 
melody,  softly  murmuring  for  more  than  forty  years, 
made  the  singer  the  most  widely  beloved  of  living 
men.  .  .  .  His  poems  are  apples  of  gold  in  pictures 
of  silver.  There  is  nothing  in  them  excessive,  nothing 
overwrought,  nothing  strained  into  turgidity,  obscurity, 
or  nonsense.  There  is  sometimes,  indeed,  a  fine  state- 
liness,  as  in  the  'Arsenal  at  Springfield,'  and  even  a 
resounding  splendor  of  diction,  as  in  '  Sandalphon.' 
But  when  the  melody  is  most  delicate,  it  is  simple. 
The  poet  throws  nothing  into  the  mist  to  make  it 
large.  How  purely  melodious  his  verse  can  be  with 
out  losing  the  thought  or  its  most  transparent  expres 
sion,  is  seen  in  the  '  Evening  Star '  and  '  Snow-flakes.' 
The  literary  decoration  of  his  style,  the  aroma  and 
color  and  richness,  so  to  speak,  which  it  derives  from 
his  ample  accomplishment  in  literature,  are  incompar 
able." 

Class  Study. — Evangeline  ;  Psalm  of  Life  ;  Village  Black 
smith;  Wreck  of  the  Hesperus  ;  Carillon  ;  Belfry  of  Bruges;  Old 
Clock  on  the  Stairs ;  The  Arrow  and  the  Song ;  Sandalphon ; 
Birds  of  Killingworth  ;  Building  of  the  Ship  ;  Seaweed  ;  Fire  of 
Drift- Wood  ;  The  Jewish  Cemetery  at  Newport ;  The  Herons 
of  Elinwood  ;  Curfew  ;  Three  Friends  of  Mine ;  Divina  Corn- 
media  ;  Weariness  ;  Resignation. 

Class  Reading.  —  Hiawatha  ;  My  Lost  Youth  ;  The  Children's 
Hour ;  The  Cumberland ;  The  Day  is  Done  ;  King  Robert  of 
Sicily  ;  The  Bridge  ;  The  Skeleton  in  Armor ;  The  Tide  Rises, 
the  Tide  Falls  ;  The  Arsenal  at  Springfield  ;  Killed  at  the  Ford  ; 


TiJ  THE   CAMBRIDGE    POETS  273 

Catawba  Wine  ;  Prometheus  ;  Castles  in  Spain  ;  Birds  of  Pas 
sage  ;  Hanging  of  the  Crane;  The  Bells  of  Lynn;  Christmas 
Bells  ;  The  Bells  of  San  Bias. 

Biography  and  Criticism. — Samuel  Longfellow's  "Henry 
Wadsworth  Longfellow,"  and  "Final  Memorials."  Under 
wood's  "  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow."  Kennedy's  "  Henry 
Wadsworth  Longfellow."  Robertson's  "Henry  Wadsworth 
Longfellow"  (Great  Writers).  Mrs.  Fields's  "Authors  and 
Friends."  Carpenter's  "Longfellow"  (Beacon  Biographies). 
Stoddard's  "Poets'  Homes."  Wolfe's  "Literary  Shrines.'' 
Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography  (Professor  Norton).  Sted- 
man's  "Poets  of  America."  Curtis's  "Literary  and  Social 
Essays."  Richardson's  "American  Literature,"  Vol.  II. 
Johnson's  "Three  Englishmen  and  Three  Americans."  Scud- 
der's  "Men  and  Letters."  Winter's  "Old  Shrines  and 
Ivy"  and  "English  Rambles  and  Other  Fugitive  Pieces." 
Lang's  "Letters  on  Literature."  Higginson's  "Old  Cam 
bridge."  Whittier's  "Literary  Recreations."  Parton's 
"Princes,  Authors,  and  Statesmen."  Whipple's  "Essays  and 
Reviews,"  Vol.  I.  Lowell's  "  Fable  for  Critics."  Howells's 
"Literary  Friends  and  Acquaintance."  Stoddard's  "Remi 
niscences"  (Lippincotf s,  January,  1896).  Bayard  Taylor's 
"  Essays  and  Notes."  Hazeltine's  "  Chats  about  Books."  Miss 
Mitford's  "Recollections  of  a  Literary  Life."  Wendell's 
"Literary  History  of  America."  Fiske's  "Unseen  World." 
Haweis's  "Poets  in  the  Pulpit." 

Poets'  Tributes.  —  William  Winter's  "Longfellow."  Low 
ell's  "  To  H.  W.  L."  Whittier's  "  The  Poet  and  the  Children." 
Holmes's  "To  H.  W.  Longfellow,"  and  "Our  Dead  Singer." 
II.  C.  Bunner's  "Longfellow."  Austin  Dobson's  "  H.  W.  Long 
fellow  :  In  Memoriam."  Hayne's  "Longfellow  Dead  !"  Edith 
M.  Thomas's  "  Vale  et  Salve."  Margaret  J.  Preston's  "  Ultima 
Thule."  E.  S.  Phelps's  "  Whose  Shall  the  Welcome  Be  ?  " 
Cranch's  "  Longfellow." 


274 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE 


[CHAP. 


JAMES   RUSSELL   LOWELL 
1819-1891 

While  Longfellow  is  justly  called  the  leader  of  the 
Xew   England   choir,   and    the    most    representative 

American  poet, 
Lowell  must  be 
regarded  as  our 
chief  man  of  let 
ters.  His  varied 
eminence  as  poet, 
critic,  teacher,  re 
former,  diploma 
tist,  gives  him  a 
peculiar  preemi 
nence  not  at 
tained  by  any 
other  representa 
tive  of  American 
literature. 

In  the  stately 
colonial  mansion 
called  Elmwood,  one  mile  from  the  gateway  of  Har 
vard  College,  James  Russell  Lowell  was  born  on 
Washington's  birthday,  February  22,  1819.  It  has 
been  said  that  the  Lowells  were  "  distinguished  in 
every  generation";  for  the  practical  wisdom  of  one 
the  city  of  Lowell  was  named,  and  another  was  the 
philanthropic  founder  of  the  Lowell  Institute.  The 


James  Russell  Lowell 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  275 

poet's  father  was  a  distinguished  clergyman,  and  the 
mother,  of  Scotch  descent,  taught  her  children  to  love 
the  songs  and  ballads  of  the  "  North  Coun-  Home 
trie."     Elm  wood  was  an  ideal  place  for  a  Influences 
poet's  birth  and  education ;  within  was  a  well-stocked 
library  and  a  family  life  of  culture  and  high  aims; 
without  were  extensive  grounds  abounding  in  the  wild 
beauty  of  native  trees  and  flowers  and  singing  birds. 
How  the  poet  soul  was  nurtured  here,  Aldrich  happily 
describes  in  the  beautiful  memorial  "  Elmwood  " :  — 

So  in  her  arms  did  Mother  Nature  fold 
Her  poet,  whispering  what  of  wild  and  sweet 
Into  his  ear  —  the  state-affairs  of  birds, 
The  lore  of  dawn  and  sunset,  what  the  wind 
Said  in  the  treetops — fine,  unfathomed  things 
Henceforth  to  turn  to  music  in  his  brain. 

At  fifteen  Lowell  entered  Harvard,  and  was  gradu 
ated  in  1838.  During  his  senior  year  he  was  rusticated 
at  Concord  for  a  time,  for  following  the  bent  of  his 
own  tastes  in  reading,  in  disparagement  of  the  pre 
scribed  tastes  of  the  faculty.  He  was  thus  prevented 

from  delivering  his  class  poem,  which  con- 

.  College 

tamed    nothing    significant    except    some 

clever  satire  upon  the  Transcendentalists  and  abolition 
ists,  with  both  of  whom  he  was  soon  to  be  in  active 
sympathy.  Upon  hearing  of  his  son's  appointment  as 
class  poet,  Dr.  Lowell  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  dear !  James 
promised  me  that  he  would  quit  writing  poetry  and  go 
to  work."  But  the  good  doctor  did  not  comprehend  the 


276  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

destinies  that  attend  upon  genius,  and  fortunately  his 
sou  never  lived  up  to  the  early  New  England  ideal  of 
thrift.  He  attended  the  Harvard  Law  School,  obtained 
his  degree  of  LL.B.,  and  opened  an  office  in  Boston ;  but 
it  is  more  than  doubtful  whether  he  ever  had  a  case,  in 
spite  of  his  prose  sketch  entitled  "  My  First  Client." 

In  1841  he  published  his  first  volume  of  poems, 
"A  Year's  Work,"  which  contained  little  promise  of 
his  future  powers,  but  gave  evidence  enough  that 
henceforth  literature,  not  law,  would  command  his 
service.  Most  of  these  poems  he  condemned  in  later 
years,  as  "  poor  windfalls  of  unripe  experience."  One 
First  P  ms  Poem>  "  My  Love,"  contains  the  key  to  the 
and  volume  and  its  inspiration,  "a  hymn  as 

high  and  still  as  starlight,"  so  pure  and 
lofty  is  its  passion.  He  had  won  the  love  of  Maria 
White,  a  woman  of  exquisite  refinement  and  per 
sonal  loveliness,  whom  he  married  in  1844.  He  now 
abandoned  law,  wrote  for  the  periodicals,  founded  and 
edited  a  magazine  called  the  Pioneer,  which  being  too 
good  to  live,  under  the  conditions  of  public  taste  then 
prevailing,  died  with  the  third  number;  published 
an  interesting  series  of  "  Conversations  on  Some 
of  the  Old  Poets,"  and  in  1844,  a  second  volume  of 
poems,  containing  some  of  his  best  known  work,  as 
"Rhoecus,"  "The  Shepherd  of  King  Admetus,"  and 
"  A  Legend  of  Brittany,"  the  last  being  hailed  by  Poe 
as  "the  noblest  poem  yet  written  by  an  American." 

Under  the  influence  of  his  high-souled  wife,  herse/f 


ri]  THE   CAMBRIDGE    POETS  277 

a  poet  and  an  ardent  sympathizer  with  every  noble 
reform,  Lowell  was  drawn  into  the  abolition  move 
ment,  and  was  for  several  years  an  editorial  con 
tributor  to  the  Antislavery  Standard.  As  his  soul 
became  fired  with  the  new  cause,  his  poetry  changed 
from  imitative  and  conventional  verses  to  strains  of 
original  strength,  sounding  the  alarum  of  national 
danger  and  duty.  The  poems  on  Garrison,  Phillips, 
and  Palfrey,  and  "  The  Present  Crisis "  A  Real 
mark  the  progress  of  his  patriotic  passion  ^T^Bi'Tow 
toward  its  splendid  outburst  in  the  "  Biglow  Papers " 
Papers."  In  this  series  of  brilliant  satires  the  unsus 
pected  resources  of  his  genius  were  suddenly  dis 
closed.  Under  the  guise  of  Hosea  Biglow,  a 
shrewd-witted  down-East  Yankee,  the  poet  adminis 
tered  a  stinging  rebuke  to  the  dominant  party  at 
the  North,  represented  by  Webster,  for  yielding  to 
southern  demands,  especially  in  the  matter  of  the 
Mexican  War,  which  he  regarded  as  "a  national 
crime,  committed  in  behalf  of  slavery."  The  first 
" paper"  appeared  in  1846,  ridiculing  the  attempt  to 
raise  troops  in  Boston,  and  containing  lines  of  fervid 
patriotism  that  rang  with  a  startling  sound :  — 

Massachusetts,  God  forgive  her, 

She's  akneelin'  with  the  rest, 
She,  thet  ough'  to  ha'  clung  forever 

In  her  grand  old  eagle-nest. 

With  clever  hits   and   keen  sarcasm,   the  impotence 
and   sham  of  public  men  and  events  were  held  up 


278  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

to  public  ridicule  and  indignation.  The  abolitionists, 
hitherto  treated  with  lofty  scorn,  were  now  upon  the 
laughing  side.  The  democratic  privilege  of  personal 
criticism  had  never  produced  such  a  campaign  song  as 
"What  Mr.  Robinson  Thinks."  The  sober-minded 
Suinner,  the  white-plumed  champion  of  the  cause, 
welcomed  the  new  knight  of  the  Yankee  pen,  but 
wished  "he  could  have  used  good  English." 

The  first  series  of  the  "Biglow  Papers"  appeared 
in  volume  form  in  1848 ;  a  second  series  was  written 
during  the  Civil  War,  containing  the  world-famous 
"  Jonathan  to  John,"  a  protest  against  England's  hos- 
More  tile  attitude.  The  political  satire  of  both 

"Biglow  series  is  varied  by  frequent  strains  of  true 
lyric  power,  and  by  two  poems  of  sur 
passing  worth.  "The  Courtin',"  that  perfect  idyl  of 
Yankee  land,  in  the  judgment  of  Stedman,  is  "without 
a  counterpart ;  no  richer  juice  can  be  pressed  from  the 
wild  grape  of  Yankee  soil."  In  "Sunthin'  in  the 
Pastoral  Line"  we  have  a  delicious  outpouring  of 
Lowell's  full-hearted  love  of  nature,  pictures  of  aston 
ishing  truth  and  beauty,  like  this  of  the  bobolink :  — 

Half  hid  in  tip-top  apple-blooms  he  swings, 
Or  climbs  aginst  the  breeze  with  quiverin'  wings, 
Or,  givin'  way  to  't  in  a  mock  despair, 
Kuns  down,  a  brook  of  laughter  thru  the  air. 

Political  satire  is  generally  ephemeral,  however  promi 
nent  may  be  the  author,  but  in  the  "  Biglow  Papers  " 
Lowell  achieved  a  permanent  masterpiece.  He 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  279 

rendered  the  Yankee  dialect  and  character  with  a 
completeness  unapproached  by  others,  and  he  could 
\vell  say  of  himself,  "  I  know  Yankee,  if  I  know 
nothing  else."  They  are,  says  Professor  Winchester, 
"  something  unique  in  English  poetry.  The  combina 
tion  of  such  a  variety  of  high  poetic  qualities  in  hu 
morous  verse  is  iinprecedented.  No  English  satiric 
poetry  shows  anything  quite  like  it.  To  a  satire  as 
caustic  as  Pope's  and  a  wit  as  dry  as  Butler's,  they 
unite  a  broad  and  mellow  humor,  bright  imagination, 
delicate  sensibilities,  deep  pathos,  and  a  power  of  stir 
ring  lyrical  appeal." l 

In  the  same  year  with  the  "Biglow  Papers"  ap 
peared  the  "  Fable  for  Critics "  and  the  "  Vision  of 
Sir  Launfal."  The  former  is  a  series  of  portraits  in 
rollicking  verse,  in  which  he  touched  up  "Fable for 
the  characteristics  of  his  literary  com- 
patriots  with  good-natured  raillery  and 
good  criticism  as  well.  "  Sir  Launfal "  is  a  charming 
allegorical  treatment  of  one  of  the  legends  of  the 
Holy  Grail,  pervaded  with  delicate  poetic  and  spir 
itual  feeling.  Nothing  in  his  poetry  is  more  widely 
familiar  than  the  beautiful  passage  descriptive  of 
spring,  beginning:  — 

And  what  is  so  rare  as  a  day  in  June. 

Lowell  went  abroad  in  1851  with  his  family,  seeking 
mainly  the  improvement  of  Mrs.  Lowell's  health.    The 

1  Review  of  Reviews,  October,  1891. 


280  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

literary  fruitage  of  this  journey  is  found  in  the  essays 
entitled  "  Leaves  from  My  Journal  in  Italy  and  Else 
where.''  At  Rome  the  death  of  his  little  son  occurred. 
Twice  before  these  poet  parents  had  been  stricken  by 
Domestic  such  a  bereavement ;  from  this  last  shock 
sorrow  Mrs.  Lowell  never  recovered,  and  the  next 

year,  1853,  she  died.  The  memory  of  these  sorrows 
is  tenderly  enshrined  in  the  "  Changeling,"  "  She  Came 
and  Went,"  "-The  First  Snow-Fall,"  "Auf  Wieder- 
sehen,"  "After  the  Burial,"  and  "The  Dead  House." 

In  1857  Lowell  succeeded  Longfellow  in  the  Profes 
sorship  of  Modern  Languages,  at  Harvard.  In  the 
same  year  occurred  his  second  marriage,  and  his 
appointment  as  the  first  editor  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly. 
Editorial  For  ten  years  from  1862  he  was  joint  editor 
work  with  Professor  Norton  of  the  North  Ameri 

can  Review.  To  these  periodicals  he  contributed  his 
essays,  collected  under  the  titles  "Fireside  Travels," 
"Among  My  Books,"  and  "From  My  Study  Windows." 
These,  with  a  volume  of  "Political  Essays,"  one  of 
"  Political  and  Literary  Addresses,"  and  one  of  lectures 
on  "  The  Old  English  Dramatists,"  constitute  his  pro^e 
works. 

The  complete  product  of  Lowell's  genius,  in  verse 
and  prose,  is  comparatively  small.  He  wrote  reluc 
tantly,  needing  the  spur  of  some  great  cause  or  occasion 
to  arouse  his  best  creative  energies.  He  loved  to 
indulge  in  literary  lotus-eating,  feasting  his  intellect, 
ripening  and  mellowing  his  thought  through  continued 


vi]  THE    CAMBRIDGE    POETS  281 

converse  with  other  minds.  When  expression  came, 
it  was  the  choicest  essence,  distilled  from  the  lavish 
abundance  of  his  knowledge.  "My  eggs  intellectual 
take  long  in  hatching,"  he  says  in  a  letter,  Character- 
"  because  I  need  to  brood  a  good  while."  "Under the 
Twenty  years  had  elapsed  since  the  publi-  Wlllows 
cation  of  a  collection  of  his  poems,  when,  in  1809, 
"  Under  the  Willows  "  appeared,  containing  many  of 
his  most  precious  gems,  such  as  the  pastoral  title  poem, 
the  charming  "  Winter  Evening  Hymn  to  My  Fire," 
with  its  touching  close,  "  Auf  Wiedersehen  "  and  its 
"  Palinode,"  the  subtile  "  Foot-Path,"  and  the  exquisite 
fantasy  "In  the  Twilight."  The  same  year  brought 
forth  "The  Cathedral,''  a  stately  poem  in  blank  verse 
with  magnificent  passages,  but  marred  in  places  by 
characteristic  discords,  unworthily  admitted  to  so 
dignified  a  composition.  A  final  collection,  "  Hearts 
ease  and  Rue,"  1888,  opened  with  the  memorial  poem 
"  Agassiz,"  which  "  takes  its  place,"  says  Henry  James, 
"  with  the  few  great  elegies  in  our  language,  gives  a 
hand  to  '  Lycidas  '  and  '  Thyrsis.'  " 

Lowell's  most  exalted  verse  is  in  his  four  patriotic 
odes,  which  Underwood  calls  "  an  Alpine  group."  The 
greatest  is  the  "  Commemoration  Ode,"  in  memory  of 
the  sons  of  Harvard  who  perished  in  the  Civil  War. 
Into  this  sublime  song  of  victory  and  peace  <«  commemo- 
the  poet  poured  his  warm  heart  blood.  ratlon  Ode" 
Eight  of  his  own  kindred  were  numbered  among  the 
heroes  to  be  memorialized.  American  patriotism  has 


282  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

offered  no  loftier  tribute  to  Abraham  Lincoln  than  the 
passage  beginning  :  — 

Such  was  he,  our  Martyr-chief, 

Whom  late  the  nation  he  had  led, 

With  ashes  on  her  head, 
Wept  with  the  passion  of  an  angry  grief. 

The  strophes  are  of  unequal  merit,  and  sometimes 
overburdened  with  compressed  thought.  "  It  is  no 
smooth-cut  block  from  Pentelicus,"  says  Stedman,  "but 
a  mass  of  rugged  quartz,  beautified  with  prismatic 
crystals,  and  deep  veined  here  and  there  with  virgin 
gold." 

Lowell  was  appointed,  in  1876,  minister  to  Spain, 
and  four  years  later  was  transferred  to  England,  where 
he  was  welcomed  as  "  His  Excellency  the  Ambassador 
Diplomatic  °f  American  Literature  to  the  Court  of 
Honors  Shakspere."  No  American  ever  enjoyed 

a  more  gracious  and  distinguished  reception  among  the 
English  people,  whose  unbounded  admiration  he  won 
through  a  wise  administration  of  his  official  trust,  an 
engaging  personality,  and  an  extraordinary  felicity  in 
public  speaking.  The  Queen  said  that  no  ambassador 
during  her  reign  had  created  so  much  interest  in 
England.  With  an  increasing  affection  for  England, 
he  maintained  always  an  intense,  almost  aggressive 
Americanism,  and  his  address  at  Birmingham  on 
"  Democracy "  stands  as  our  finest  expression  of 
American  principles.  At  the  close  of  his  public 
career  he  returned  to  Elmwood  and  there  spent  his 


TI] 


THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS 


283 


last  days,  listening  in   the  quiet  of  the  old  library 
to  the  voices  of  the  past. 

Again  he  watched 

His  loved  syringa  whitening  by  the  door, 
And  knew  the  catbird's  welcome. 


Lowell's  Home,  Elm-wood 

And  here  he  died,  August  12, 1891,  and  in  Mt.  Auburn 
he  rests  near  Longfellow. 

The  life  of  Lowell  presents  a  type  of  cultivated 
manhood  that  should  be  an  inspiration  to  every 
American.  It  is  the  best  product  of  republican 
culture.  It  shows  what  breadth  and  beauty  and 
richness  of  life  may  be  attained  by  the  application  to 
life  of  high  ideals.  Viewing  his  character  as  an 


284  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

author,   one   is   first    impressed   by   the   extent   and 
variety  of  his  powers. 

With  such  a  large  range  as  from  the  ale-house  bench 
Can  reach  the  stars  and  be  at  home  with  both. 

From  a  campaign  song  in  dialect  to  a  learned  essay 
on  Dante,  an  elegant  exchange  of  compliments  with 
royalty,  or  a  poem  expressing  the  profoundest  experi 
ences  of  the  soul,  he  could  pass  with  equal 

Personal  and 

Literary          and  masterly  ease ;  and  with  this  splendid 

resourcefulness  was  always  the  quality  of 
freshness  and  genuineness,  a  perennial  youthfulness 
of  tone.  Allied  to  this  is  the  out-of-door  atmosphere 
of  his  work.  From  youth  to  old  age  he  was  a  lover  of 
nature,  especially  of  the  fresh,  joyous,  odorous  spring; 
his  finest  thought  rose  with  the  "  high  tide  "  of  June, 
as  Chaucer's  inspiration  was  caught  from  May.  Noth 
ing  in  the  literature  of  birdlore  is  more  truly  deli 
cious  than  the  description  of  his  intimacies  with 
feathered  friends  in  "  My  Garden  Acquaintance." 

Humor  fills  his  writing  like  sunshine.  The  allegro 
element  of  his  genius  is  always  breaking  out  in 
"  quips  and  cranks  and  wanton  wiles,"  even  sometimes 
at  the  expense  of  taste,  as  when  the  organ  music  of 
the  "  Cathedral "  is  interrupted  by  a  pun.  This  irre- 
Humorand  pressible  impulse  of  humor,  always  sweet 
Thought  an(j  wholesome,  gives  a  fascinating  interest 
to  his  "  Letters,"  which  must  be  reckoned  permanently 
among  his  prose  works.  Moreover,  all  his  prose  is 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  285 

"  aerated  by  wit."  His  shafts  are  keen,  but  never 
poisoned.  "  There  is  not  one  touch  of  cynicism,"  de 
clares  Howells,  "  in  all  that  he  has  written ;  and  for 
this  reason,  as  a  satirist,  he  stands  not  only  foremost, 
but  alone  in  our  language."  Quite  as  characteristic, 
however,  as  his  wit  and  humor,  is  the  background  or 
contrast  of  serious  thought.  His  fancy  plays  upon 
the  surface  of  deep  waters.  Both  verse  and  prose  are 
heavily  freighted  with  the  rich  stores  of  scholarship 
and  thinking,  and  for  this  reason  Lowell  can  never  be 
popular  in  the  sense  that  Irving  and  Longfellow  are 
popular.  Moreover,  his  thinking,  while  it  elucidates, 
never  perverts  or  distorts  fundamental  truth.  In  re 
spect  to  religion,  he  does  not  hesitate  to  express  his 
conservative  distrust  of  the  radical  tendency  of  the 
age,  with  its  knife  and  glass  — 

That  make  thought  physical  and  thrust  far  off 
The  Heaven,  so  neighborly  with  men  of  old. 

The  critical  essays  —  on  Dante,  Shakspere,  Spenser, 
Dryden,  Chaucer,  Milton,  and  other  themes  —  stand  at 
the  head  of  critical  writing  in  America.  They  are 
not  easy  reading,  and  to  read  them  appreciatively  is 
the  mark  of  a  liberal  education.  He  seeks  to  impress 
the  reader  just  as  he  is  impressed  by  his 

subject,  and  the  reader  who  can  receive  the  Essays ; 

p  1 1    •  ...  ,        Prose  style 

full  impression  is  in  a  way  to  enjoy  the 

choicest  literary  luxury.  He  does  not  aim  to  method 
ize  or  exhaust,  but  to  illuminate  his  theme.  He  is  not 


286  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

coldly  judicial  like  Matthew  Arnold,  but  warmly  ap 
preciative,  enticing  the  reader  into  his  own  enjoyments 
by  a  delightful  companionableness  that  is  more  per 
suasive  than  any  logic  of  critical  principles.  The 
amplitude  of  learning  is  sometimes  bewildering,  and 
the  rapid  prismatic  flashings  of  new  thoughts  are 
followed  with  a  kind  of  breathless  despair.  The  rich 
ness  of  expression  is  often  an  embarrassment,  it  is  so 
prodigal  and  profuse ;  the  sentences  are  packed  with 
meaning,  the  humor  evasive,  the  language  learned, 
the  allusions  bookish  and  remote.  Yet  there  is  no 
pedantry.  He  scatters  wise  and  witty  epigrams  up 
and  down  his  pages,  like  one  who  sows  from  the  sack 
instead  of  from  the  hand;  his  style  is  diffusive,  un 
even,  at  times  running  to  waywardness  and  caprice. 
But  objections  have  little  force  in  the  presence  of  such 
scholarly  ease,  and  such  a  gracious  and  winning  per 
sonality.  He  merely  exercises  the  right  of  genius  to 
be  natural,  without  regard  for  the  law. 

Lowell's  poetic  qualities  are  well  summarized  by 
Bayard  Taylor.  "  No  one  of  our  poets  shows  a  richer 
or  wider  range  of  thought;  no  one  a  greater  variety 
of  expression  in  verse.  But  whatever  form  his  Muse 
may  select,  it  is  the  individuality  of  an  intellect  rather 
Qualities  than  that  of  a  literary  artist  which  she 
of  his  verse  represents.  The  reader  is  never  beguiled 
by  studied  graces  of  rhythm ;  but  on  the  other  hand, 
he  is  constantly  refreshed  and  stimulated  by  sudden 
glimpses  of  heights  and  splendors  of  thought  which 


•ri]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  287 

seem  to  be  revealed  as  much  to  the  poet  as  to  himself. 
Lowell  rises  with  a  swift  wing,  and  can  upbear  him 
self,  when  he  pleases,  on  a  steady  one ;  but  his  nature 
seems  hostile  to  that  quality  which  compels  each  con 
ception  to  shape  itself  into  clear  symmetry,  and  which, 
therefore,  limits  the  willful  exercise  of  the  imagina 
tion.  He  seems  to  write  under  a  strong  stress  of 
natural  inspiration,  then  to  shrink  from  the  cooler- 
blooded  labor  of  revision,  and  the  adjustment  of  the 
rhythmical  expression  to  the  informing  thought. 
Hence  he  is  frequently  unequal,  not  alone  in  separate 
poems,  but  also  in  different  portions  of  the  same 
poem.  This  is  much  more  evident,  however,  in  his 
earlier  than  in  his  later  verse.  Such  poems  as  'In 
the  Twilight/  <  The  Washers  of  the  Shroud,'  <  To  the 
Muse,'  and  the  greater  part  of  the  'Commemoration 
Ode/  are  alike  perfect  and  noble." 

Lowell  might  have  achieved  higher  distinction  had 
he  limited  himself  to  one  of  the  several  forms  of  art 
in  which  he  worked  with  facile  ease.  "  But  the  very 
multiplicity  of  his  endowments,"  says  Professor  Xor- 
ton,  "  interfered  with  the  complete  expres-  HIS  Achieve- 
sion  of  any  one  of  them.  His  talents  ment 
hampered  his  genius."  There  is  enough  of  immuta 
ble  worth,  however,  in  his  best  work,  to  secure  its 
permanent  place  among  the  classics  of  our  language. 
The  final  judgment  of  his  readers  must  be  in  essential 
accord  with  that  of  Henry  James :  "  There  is  noth 
ing  ineffective  in  his  name  and  fame  —  they  stand  for 


288  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

large  and  delightful  things.  He  is  one  of  the  happy 
figures  in  literature.  He  had  his  trammels  and  his 
sorrows,  but  he  drank  deep  of  the  tonic  draught,  and 
he  will  long  count  as  an  erect  fighting  figure  on  the 
side  of  optimism  and  beauty.  He  was  strong  without 
narrowness,  wise  without  bitterness,  and  glad  without 
fatuity." 

Class  Study.  —  Poetry :  The  Vision  of  Sir  Launfal  ;  An 
Indian-Summer  Reverie ;  To  the  Dandelion  ;  Under  the  Wil 
lows  ;  The  First  Snow-Fall  ;  The  Shepherd  of  King  Admetus  ; 
The  Courtin' ;  The  Present  Crisis  ;  The  Nest ;  In  the  Twilight ; 
The  Commemoration  Ode. 

Prose :  My  Garden  Acquaintance  ;  A  Good  Word  for  Winter. 

Class  Reading.  —  Poetry :  Under  the  Old  Elm  ;  Auf  Wieder- 
sehen ;  A  Winter  Evening  Hymn  to  My  Fire  ;  The  Changeling  ; 
Beaver  Brook  ;  For  an  Autograph  ;  Al  Fresco  ;  Sunthin'  ill 
the  Pastoral  Line  ;  Pictures  from  Appledore  ;  Phoebe  ;  The 
Cathedral. 

Prose :  On  a  Certain  Condescension  in  Foreigners ;  Chaucer  ; 
Democracy. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Scudder's  "James  Russell 
Lowell."  Underwood's  "James  Russell  Lowell:  a  Biographi 
cal  Sketch,"  and  "The  Poet  and  the  Man  :  Recollections  and 
Appreciations  of  James  Russell  Lowell."  "  Letters  of  James 
Russell  Lowell,"  edited  by  Norton.  Edward  Everett  Kale's 
"Lowell  and  his  Friends."  Brown's  "Life  of  James  Russell 
Lowell."  Edward  Everett  Hale,  Jr.'s  "James  Russell  Lowell " 
(Beacon  Biographies).  Wolfe's  "Literary  Shrines."  Sted- 
man's  "Poets  of  America."  Curtis's  "Orations  and  Ad 
dresses,"  Vol.  III.  Woodberry's  "Makers  of  Literature." 
James's  "Essays  in  London."  Richardson's  "American 
Literature."  Higginson's  "  Old  Cambridge."  Whipple's 
"Outlooks  on  Society."  Howells's  "Literary  Friends  and 
Acquaintance."  Taylor's  "  Essays  and  Notes."  William 


vi]  THE    CAMBRIDGE   POETS  289 

Watson's  "Excursions  in  Criticism.''  Wendell's  "  Stelligeri," 
and  "Literary  History  of  America."  Carpenter's  "  American 
Prose"  (Norton).  Haweis's  "American  Humorists."  Wil 
kinson's  '•  Free  Lance  in  the  Field  of  Life  and  Letters." 
Cheney's  "  That  Dome  in  Air."  Underwood's  "Builders  of 
American  Literature." 

Poets'  Tributes.  —  Longfellow's  "Herons  of  Elm  wood." 
Aldrich's  "  Elimvood."  Whittier's  "A  Welcome  to  Lowell." 
llolmes's  "Farewell  to  J.  K.  Lowell"  ;  "At  a  Birthday  Fes 
tival"  ;  "To  James  Russell  Lowell";  and  "James  Russell 
Lowell."  Margaret  J.  Preston's  "  Home- Welcome  to  Lowell." 
Richard  Watson  Gilder's  "Lowell."  Cranch's  "To  J.  R.  L. 
on  his  Fiftieth  Birthday,"  and  "To  J.  R.  L.  on  his  Homeward 
Voyage." 

OLIVER   WENDELL   HOLMES 
1809-1894 

The  last  survivor  of  the  Cambridge  trio,  and  of 
the  grand  New  England  group,  was  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes.  One  after  another  he  bade  each  of  his 
distinguished  fellows  farewell,  and  himself  lived  on 
to  fulfill  the  playful  augury  of  his  early  poem,  "  The 
Last  Leaf." 

The  father  of  Dr.  Holmes  was  the  Rev.  Abiel 
Holmes,  a  minister  of  the  strict  Calvinist  type,  who 
"apart  from  his  religious  creed  was  a  gentleman  of 
humanity  and  cultivation."  Like  many  of  his  clerical 
ancestors,  he  had  a  weakness  for  writing  verses,  and 
his  "  Annals  of  America "  is  still  a  use-  Ancestry  and 
ful  historical  work.  The  mother,  Sarah  Home 
Wendell,  a  pleasing  and  vivacious  woman,  was  a  lineal 
descendant  of  the  "tenth  muse,"  Anne  Bradstreet; 


290 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE 


[CHAl'. 


and  his  great-grandmother  was  Dorothy  Quincy,  whose 
portrait  is  celebrated  in  "  Dorothy  Q."  The  Holmes 
family  was  of  the  choicest  New  England  stock,  the 
Puritan  aristocracy,  whicli  the  poet  himself  styled 
"the  Brahmin  Caste."  On  the  margin  of  the  family 

almanac  for  the  year 
1809,  against  the 
date  August  29, 
stands  the  record  of 
the  poet's  birth, 
"son  b."  The  birth 
place,  and  for  many 
years  the  home,  was 
the  "  old  gambrel- 
roofed  house "  in 
Cambridge,  famous 
for  its  Revolution 
ary  associations ;  his 
childhood  experi 
ence  here  is  often 
affectionately  re 
called  in  his  writ 
ings  ;  here  he  received  his  first  impulse  toward 
literature  in  a  liberally  selected  library,  where,  as  he 
says,  he  "bumped  about,  among  books  from  the  time 
when  he  was  hardly  taller  than  one  of  his  father's 
or  grandfather's  folios." 

He  prepared  for  college  at  Phillips  Academy,  An- 
dover,   and   was    graduated   from   Harvard    in   "the 


Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 


vi J  THE   CAMBRIDGE    POETS  391 

famous  class  of  '29,"  iu  celebration  of  the  good  fel 
lowship  of  which  he  wrote  many  of  his  cleverest 
poems.  Among  his  classmates  were  the 
distinguished  clergymen,  James  Freeman  First  Taste 
Clarke,  and  Samuel  F.  Smith,  the  author 
of  "  America."  For  a  year  after  graduation  he  studied 
law,  and  during  that  time,  he  says,  "first  tasted  the 
intoxicating  pleasures  of  authorship."  He  wrote  for 
a  college  periodical,  and  from  this  first  "  lead  poison 
ing,"  caused  by  "  mental  contact  with  type  metal," 
fortunately  for  the  world,  he  never  fully  recovered. 
One  poem  published  at  this  time  brought  him  swiftly 
to  fame.  He  read  in  a  newspaper  that  the  old  frigate 
Constitution  had  been  condemned  by  the  government, 
and  with  an  impulse  of  patriotic  indignation  wrote  the 
impetuous  lyric  "  Old  Ironsides." 

Ay,  tear  her  tattered  ensign  down  ! 

The  ringing  protest  was  copied  in  all  the  papers, 
quoted  in  speeches,  and  distributed  as  a  handbill  on 
the  streets,  until  public  sentiment  was  aroused  and 
the  old  ship  was  saved. 

For  no  very  definite  reason,  law  was  abandoned  for 
medicine,  and  two  years  and  a  half  were  spent  in 
Paris  in  earnest  and  enthusiastic  study.  In  1836  the 
well-equipped  young  doctor  began  his  practice  in  Bos 
ton,  but  accomplished  little  more  than  a  beginning; 
his  professional  success  was  to  be  won  as  a  teacher 
rather  than  as  a  practitioner.  A  doctor's  duties  proved 


292  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

to  be  not  altogether  to  his  taste,  and  moreover,  his 
growing  reputation  as  a  wit  and  poet  made  against  his 
Doctor  and  reputation  as  a  sober  physician.  He  was 
Professor  "mightily  pleased"  therefore  by  the  ap 
pointment  in  1838  to  a  professorship  of  anatomy  in 
Dartmouth  College ;  in  1847  he  was  called  to  a  simi 
lar  professorship  in  the  Medical  School  at  Harvard, 
a  position  which  he  held  for  thirty-five  years.  Few 
instructors  ever  succeeded  so  well  in  making  the  dry 
subject  of  anatomy  interesting;  he  brought  to  it  plen 
tiful  knowledge,  patience,  and  earnestness,  and  an  easy 
flowing  abundance  of  apt  and  witty  illustration,  that 
added  effectiveness  as  well  as  interest  to  his  instruction. 
He  also  made  some  valuable  contributions  to  medical 
science,  and  his  works  include  a  volume  of  "  Medical 
Essays,"  in  which  are  the  two  celebrated  papers  against 
Homeopathy,  a  subject  that  "led  him  in  his  earnest 
ness,"  says  his  biographer,  "to  utter  some  of  the  happi 
est  of  his  brilliant  sentences,  however  distasteful  they 
may  be  to  some  readers." 

From,  the  outset  the  practice  of  poetry  went  hand 
in  hand  with  the  practice  of  his  profession.  During 
his  first  year  in  a  doctor's  chaise,  our  jolly  physician 
••The Last  published  a  volume  of  exuberant  and 
^Lecture  witty  verses,  among  them  being  "  The  Last 
peddling"  Leaf,"  a  poem  which  Abraham  Lincoln 
found  "inexpressibly  touching,"  and  probably  unsur 
passed  for  tender  mingling  of  humor  and  pathos.  He 
was  drawn  into  the  "  lecture  lyceum  "  of  the  period, 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  293 

and  his  experiences  in  "lecture-peddling,"  happily 
described  in  the  "  Autocrat/'  were  not  entirely  agree 
able,  but  were  in  a  sense  a  necessity ;  for  in  1840  he 
had  married  "  the  kindest,  tenderest,  and  gentlest  of 
women,"  and  the  home  now  established  in  Boston 
had  to  be  sustained  by  his  wits.  Of  his  three  chil 
dren,  the  only  survivor,  now  a  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  was  the  wounded  hero  of  the  essay,  "  My  Hunt 
after  the  Captain." 

When  the  Atlantic  Monthly  was  established  in  1857, 
Lowell  accepted  the  editorship  on  condition  that  Dr. 
Holmes  should  be  "the  first  contributor  to  be  en 
gaged."  Thus  it  happened  that  he  was  awakened  by 
Lowell,  he  says,  "  from  a  kind  of  literary  lethargy  "  ; 
and  it  was  an  auspicious  awakening.  He  gave  to  the 
new  magazine  its  name  and  its  first  fame.  The"Auto- 
In  the  first  number  appeared  the  opening  crat"  Series 
installment  of  the  "Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table," 
with  its  droll  beginning,  "I  was  just  going  to  say, 
when  I  was  interrupted."  The  interruption  had  been 
just  a  quarter  of  a  century,  for  in  1832  he  had  contrib 
uted  two  papers  to  the  New  England  Magazine  under 
the  same  felicitous  title.  These  he  regarded  as  the 
"  crude  products  of  his  uncombed  literary  boyhood," 
but  they  suggested  the  thought  "  that  it  would  be  a 
curious  experiment  to  shake  the  same  bough  again 
and  see  if  the  ripe  fruit  were  better  or  worse  than 
the  early  windfalls."  The  fruit  proved  to  be  thor 
oughly  ripe,  juicy  and  delicious,  and  people  of  tasto 


294  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CRAP. 

are  still  feasting  upon  it.  The  "  Autocrat "  was  fol 
lowed  by  the  "  Professor  at  the  Breakfast  Table,"  and 
to  this  succeeded,  twelve  years  later,  the  "  Poet  at  the 
Breakfast  Table."  The  character  sketches,  bright 
dialogue,  and  imaginative  passages  in  these  papers 
suggested  the  possibility  of  a  complete  novel ;  readers 
were,  therefore,  not  surprised  by  the  appearance  of 
two  delightful  stories,  "Elsie  Vernier,"  1861,  and 
u  The  Guardian  Angel,"  1867.  Twenty  years  later 
he  wrote  a  third  novel,  "A  Mortal  Antipathy,"  which 
is  much  inferior  to  the  others. 

Holmes  always  drove  a  double  team  of  prose  and 
verse.  In  the  same  year  with  "  Elsie  Venner  "  he  pub 
lished  "  Songs  in  Many  Keys,"  and  in  1874,  "  Songs 
of  Many  Seasons."  The  occasion  of  his  seventieth 
birthday  was  made  memorable  by  a  "Breakfast" 
given  in  his  honor  by  the  publishers  of  the  Atlantic, 
Autumn  a^  which  nearly  all  of  the  eminent  repre- 
Fruits  sentatives  of  American  letters  were  present. 

For  this  event  Holmes  wrote  "The  Iron  Gate,"  a 
cheerful  description  of  old  age :  — 

I  come  not  here  your  morning  hour  to  sadden, 
A  limping  pilgrim,  leaning  on  his  staff,  — 

I,  who  have  never  deemed  it  sin  to  gladden 
This  vale  of  sorrows  with  a  wholesome  laugh. 

He  had  now  reached  the  scriptural  limit,  but  his  old 
age  was  marvelously  youthful.  Five  years  later  Bur 
roughs  wrote  of  him  truly  :  "  May  is  in  his  heart,  and 
early  autumn  in  his  brain."  He  resigned  his  profes- 


vi]         »  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  295 

sorship  in  1882,  and  soon  after  published  tlie  gracious 
and  sympathetic  "  Life  of  Emerson."  In  1886  lie 
made  a  visit  to  Europe  with  his  daughter,  which,  in 
his  biographer's  words,  "was  in  reality  a  triumphal 
tour ;  he  was  overwhelmed  with  attentions,  so  that  it 
was  only  by  extreme  care  that  he  extricated  himself 
alive  from  the  hospitalities  of  his  British  friends." 
Degrees  were  conferred  upon  him  by  the  universities 
of  Oxford,  Cambridge,  and  Edinburgh.  The  record  of 
this  flattering  experience  is  given  in  "Our  Hundred 
Days  in  Europe." 

Once  more,  in  1889,  the  Autocrat,  now  in  his 
eightieth  year,  shook  the  old  bough,  and  a  series  of 
cheerful,  chatty  papers,  happily  christened  "Over  the 
Tea-cups,"  appeared  in  the  Atlantic.  Although,  as  he 
knew,  he  could  not  make  his  "evening  tea-cups  as 
much  of  a  success  as  his  morning  coffee-cups,"  yet 
there  is  the  familiar  play  of  the  old-time  wit  and  wis 
dom.  A  last  volume  of  poems  was  put  forth  with  the 
appropriate  title  "Before  the  Curfew,"  like  Longfellow's 
"In  the  Harbor,"  and  Whittier's  "At  Sundown." 
Slowly  and  gently  the  frost  of  age  settled  upon  him, 
until  the  "last  leaf"  fell,  October  7,  1894. 

Few  men  of  letters  have  been  so  lovable  and  so  be 
loved  as  Dr.  Holmes,  and  largely  because  few  have 
revealed  so  frankly  and  fully  their  person- 

Personality 

ahties  in  their  writings.     His  books  are  a 
continuous  autobiography;  he  was  always  "a  BosAvell 
writing  out  himself."     The  little  egoisms  and  vanities 


296  AMERICAN    LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

that  necessarily  accompany  such  self-revelation  serve 
only  to  make  him  the  more  human  and  approachable.  He 
loved  praise  and  believed  in  its  virtues.  "  1  purr  very 
loud  over  a  good,  honest  letter  that  says  pretty  things 
of  me,"  remarks  the  Autocrat.  He  was  the  prince  of 
talkers,  and  in  that  notable  galaxy  of  writers  who  sat 
about  the  table  of  the  "  Saturday  Club,"  he  was  easily 
the  brightest  star.  "  Perhaps  no  man  of  modern  times,'' 
says  Edmund  Gosse,  "  has  given  his  contemporaries  a 
more  extraordinary  impression  of  wit  in  conversation." 
Aldrich  hails  him  as  :  — 

Our  Yankee  Tsar,  our  Autocrat 
Of  all  the  happy  realms  of  wit. 

Provincial  he  was,  proudly  and  avowedly.  The  New 
England  flavor  is  in  all  his  work.  To  him  Boston  was 
"  the  hub  of  the  universe,"  and  for  everything  within 
sight  of  the  State  House  dome  he  exhibited  a  kind  of 
cockneyish  devotion.  He  was  the  laureate  of  his  city 
and  university,  and  for  nearly  a  half  century  a  public 
event  seldom  occurred  in  either  without  being  graced 
by  the  presence  of  his  sprightly  Muse.  Indeed  his 
easy  acceptance  of  this  civic  and  social  responsibility 
marks  the  chief  limitation  of  his  poetry,  as  he  at  times 
perhaps  realized. 

I'm  a  florist  in  verse,  and  what  would  people  say 
If  I  came  to  a  banquet  without  my  bouquet  ? 

Although  Dr.  Holmes  is  inevitably  thought  of  as  a 
humorist,  "  A  fellow  of  infinite  jest,  of  most  excellent 


TI]  THE    CAMBRIDGE   POETS  297 

fancy/'  there  was  a  sober  side  of  his  nature  and  a 
serious  purpose  in  his  work.  "Outside  I  laugh,"  he 
once  remarked  to  a  friend,  "inside  I  never  laxigh.  It 
is  impossible.  The  world  is  too  sad."  Here  is  the 
true  humorist,  the  humorist  who  laughs  with  the  world 
and  not  at  it,  whose  laughter  and  tears  spring  from  a 
common  source  in  a  tender,  sympathetic  heart.  With 
all  his  ebullient  spirits,  he  could  not  escape  Humor,  con- 

entirely  the  inheritance  of  the  preacher:   servatism. 
J  '    Patriotism, 

even  in  his  wittiest  writing  he  manages  to  Piety 

administer  his  little  moral,  delicately  sugar  coated,  but 
wholesome  and  purifying.  It  was  his  desire,  he  says, 
"  to  leave  the  world  a  little  more  human  than  if  I  had 
not  lived."  In  social  and  political  matters  he  was 
conservative.  Of  all  the  New  England  group  he  was 
least  infhienced  by  the  enthusiasms  of  the  period ;  the 
Transcendentalists  did  not  affect  him  —  except  to 
laughter,  and  the  abolitionists  reproached  him  in  vain 
for  his  indifference.  But  he  was  not  wanting  in 
patriotism,  and  when  the  crisis  came,  in  such  lyrics  as 
the  "  Voice  of  the  Loyal  North,"  "  God  Save  the  Flag," 
"Never  or  Now,"  his  voice  rang  as  clear,  if  not  as 
loud,  as  Whittier's.  In  religion  he  was  radical,  and 
his  habit  of  rattling  the  dry  bones  of  Puritan  theology 
would  be  monotonous  were  it  not  for  the  entertaining 
display  of  wit  and  logic  that  always  accompanies  the 
process.  Creeds  and  dogmas  he  could  not  abide,  but 
he  was  a  faithful  church-goer.  u  There  is  a  little  plant 
called  Reverence  in  the  corner  of  my  soul's  garden, 


298  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

which  I  love  to  have  watered  about  once  a  week." 
Such  was  the  gentle  Autocrat's  piety. 

Dr.  Holmes  will  always  be  known  in  literature  as 
the  "  Autocrat."  By  the  three  volumes  of  that  series 
his  literary  reputation  was  chiefly  made,  and  in  them 
it  will  live.  He  created  an  essentially  new  prose 
form,  a  conversational  monologue  interspersed  with 
poetry,  a  kind  of  dramatized  essay.  The  Autocrat 
presides  at  a  boarding-house  table  and  entertains  his 
fellow-boarders  with  witty  and  wise  comment  upon 
subjects  that  follow  each  other  in  a  delightfully  hap 
hazard  sequence.  It  is  table-talk  of  the  rarest  and 
richest  kind.  "  The  index  of  the  Autocrat  is  itself  a 
unique  work,"  says  Curtis.  "It  reveals  the  whimsical 
discursiveness  of  the  book;  the  restless  hovering  of 
The  Auto-  that  brilliant  talk  over  every  topic,  fancy, 
crat's  Prose  feeling,  fact;  a  humming-bird  sipping  the 
one  honeyed  drop  from  every  flower ;  or  a  huma,  to 
use  its  own  droll  and  capital  symbol  of  the  lyceum 
lecturer,  the  bird  that  never  lights.  There  are  few 
books  that  leave  more  distinctly  the  impression  of  a 
mind  teeming  with  riches  of  many  kinds."  The  style 
is  easy  and  colloquial,  keeping  time  with  the  topic,  but 
never  careless  or  commonplace.  In  all  of  Dr.  Holmes's 
prose  there  is  a  "  brisk  and  crisp  and  sparkling  charm." 
His  scientific  training  is  shown  in  his  similes  and  meta 
phors,  and  in  his  accurate  observation  and  precise  ex 
pression.  He  is  always  clear,  logical,  and  definite.  A 
few  excerpts  will  illustrate  the  Autocrat's  manner :  — 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  299 

Put  not  your  trust  in  money,  but  put  your  money  in  trust. 

Knowledge  and  timber  shouldn't  be  much  used  till  they  are 
seasoned. 

Good  feeling  helps  society  to  make  liars  of  most  of  us  —  not 
absolute  liars,  but  such  careless  handlers  of  truth  that  its  sharp 
corners  get  terribly  rounded. 

The  clergy  rarely  hear  any  sermons  except  what  they  preach 
themselves.  A  dull  preacher  might  be  conceived,  therefore,  to 
lapse  into  a  state  of  quasi  heathenism,  simply  for  want  of  reli 
gious  instruction. 

Every  poem  has  a  soul  and  a  body,  and  it  is  the  body  of  it, 
or  the  copy,  that  men  read  and  publishers  pay  for.  The  soul 
of  it  is  born  in  an  instant  in  the  poet's  soul.  It  comes  to  him  a 
thought,  tangled  in  the  meshes  of  a  few  sweet  words  —  words 
that  have  loved  each  other  from  the  cradle  of  the  language,  but 
have  never  been  wedded  until  now. 

Possibilities,  Sir?  —  said  the  divinity-student ;  —  can't  a  man 
who  says  Haow  ?  arrive  at  distinction  ? 

Sir,  —  I  replied,  —  in  a  republic  all  things  are  possible.  But 
the  man  with  a  future  has  almost  of  necessity  sense  enough  to 
see  that  any  odious  trick  of  speech  or  manners  must  be  got  rid  of. 

Do  you  want  an  image  of  the  human  will,  or  the  self-deter 
mining  principle,  as  compared  with  its  prearranged  and  impassi 
ble  restrictions  ?  A  drop  of  water,  imprisoned  in  a  crystal ; 
you  may  see  such  a  one  in  any  mineralogical  collection.  One 
little  fluid  particle  in  the  crystalline  prism  of  the  solid  universe ! 

Ah  me  !  what  strains  and  strophes  of  unwritten  verse  pulsate 
through  my  soul  when  I  open  a  certain  closet  in  the  ancient 
house  where  I  was  born  !  On  its  shelves  used  to  lie  bundles  of 
sweet-marjoram  and  pennyroyal  and  lavender  and  mint  and 
catnip ;  there  apples  were  stored  until  their  seeds  should  grow 
black,  which  happy  period  there  were  sharp  little  milk-teeth 
always  ready  to  anticipate ;  there  peaches  lay  in  the  dark, 
thinking  of  the  sunshine  they  had  lost,  until,  like  the  hearts 
of  saints  that  dream  of  heaven  in  their  sorrow,  they  grow 
fragrant  as  the  breath  of  angels.  The  odorous  echo  of  a  score 
of  dead  summers  lingers  yet  in  those  dim  recesses. 


300  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

The  three  novels  all  deal  with  Dr.  Holmes's  favorite 
theme,  —  the  doctrine  of  heredity  and  its  bearing  upon 
free  will  and  moral  accountability.  The  prominence 
of  the  psycho-physiological  element  led  some  one  to 
call  them  "  medicated  novels."  The  chief  literary  in 
terest  is  in  the  New  England  environment  of 
The  Novels  .  . 

the  stories.     "  Elsie  Venner  "  still  exercises 

its  fascinating,  somewhat  uncanny,  influence  over  many 
readers,  and  the  "  Guardian  Angel,'''  in  Richardson's 
judgment,  "narrowly  escapes  being  a  great  novel." 
But  Holmes  has  not  the  art  of  the  story-teller ;  he 
is  too  discursive,  being  tempted  by  his  scurrying 
thoughts  away  from  the  tale  into  every  attractive 
side-path  of  comment  and  speculation.  He  cannot 
suppress  himself,  and  hence  is  usually  the  most  inter 
esting  character  in  the  book.  "  On  the  whole,"  con 
cludes  Stedman,  "the  novels  and  the  Autocrat  volumes 
Avere  indigenous  works,  in  plot  and  style  behind  the 
deft  creations  of  our  day,  but  with  their  writer's 
acumen  everywhere  conspicuous." 

As  a  poet  of  occasion,  Holmes  was  without  a  peer. 
His  marvelous  facility  never  failed  him.  A  pertinent 
topic  was  always  ready,  and  treated  with  telling 
aptness  and  pungent  wit.  His  resources  for  happy 
similes  and  anecdotes,  verbal  drolleries,  frolicsome 
puns,  quaint  analogies,  and  brilliant  epigrams  seemed 
inexhaustible.  Age  could  not  wither  him  nor  custom 
stale  his  infinite  variety.  Lowell  neatly  figures  this 
profuseness  of  wit  as  "  Holmes's  rockets,"  that  — 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE   POETS  301 

Curve  their  long  ellipse, 
And  burst  in  seeds  of  fire  that  burst  again 
To  drop  in  scintillating  rain. 

But  poetry  written  to  order  for  an  occasion  is  per 
ishable,  and  much  of  Holmes's  wittiest  verse  has, 
for  this  reason,  a  frail  hold  upon  immor-  poetic 
tality.  His  finest  qualities  are  represented  Limitations. 
by  the  lofty  beauty  of  the  "  Chambered  Nautilus,"  the 
playful  tenderness  of  the  "  Last  Leaf,"  and  the  de 
licious  humor  of  the  "  Deacon's  Masterpiece,"  and  in 
such  poems  as  these  his  fame  will  live.  In  poetic- 
style  he  was  conservative,  holding  to  the  old-fashioned 
models.  His  favorite  form  is  the  Augustan  couplet, 
which  with  loving  care  he  attunes  and  modulates  to 
suit  his  lively  fancy.  His  verse  always  possesses  the 
eighteenth-century  clarity,  precision,  and  finish ;  there 
is  no  subtlety  of  thought  in  it,  and  no  sensuous  delight 
in  mere  melody ;  but  within  the  limits  prescribed  by 
his  taste  his  rhythms  are  perfect  in  form  and  sound. 

The  most  conspicuous  fact  about  Dr.  Holmes  is  his 
versatility.  Few  men  reach  so  high  a  degree  of  merit 
in  so  many  directions.  He  was  poet,  essayist,  novelist, 
wit,  humorist,  medical  writer,  and  college  lecturer. 

During  his  lifetime  he  was  perhaps  most  ,. 

Versatile 

often  thought  of  as  an  after-dinner  poet,  Mind  and 
and  for  the  poetry  of  occasion  he  "always  kindlyH< 
had  the  essential  lightness  of   touch  and  the   right 
mingling  of  wit  and  sentiment,"  says  Lodge.     "  But 
lie  was  very  much  more  than  a  writer  of  occasional 


302  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

verse,  and  his  extraordinary  success  in  this  direction 
has  tended  to  obscure  his  much  higher  successes,  and 
to  cause  men  to  overlook  the  fact  that  he  was  a  true 
poet  in  the  best  sense."  We  can  be  sure  that  he  was 
not  always  satisfied  himself  with  the  pretty  "  blos 
soms  "  with  which  he  decorated  so  many  occasions :  — 

To  me  more  fair 
The  buds  of  song  that  never  blow. 

Much  of  his  serious  nature  flowed  out  in  airy  mockery 
of  folly,  sham,  and  wrong ;  but  "  with  all  his  power  of 
ridicule,"  says  Leslie  Stephen,  "  Holmes  had  not  a 
touch  of  the  satirist  about  him.  He  shrinks  from 
painting  even  his  enemies  in  too  black  colors.  He 
can  denounce  bigotry ;  but  he  always  prefers  to  point 
out  that  the  bigot  in  theory  may  be  the  kindliest  of 
men  in  practice.  He  is  one  of  the  writers  who  are 
destined  to  live  long  —  longer,  it  may  be,  than  some 
of  greater  intellectual  force  and  higher  imagination, 
because  he  succeeds  so  admirably  in  flavoring  the 
milk  of  human  kindness  with  an  element  which  is 
not  acid,  and  yet  gets  rid  of  the  mawkishness  which 
sometimes  makes  good  morality  terribly  insipid." 

Class  Study.  —  Poetry:  Old  Ironsides;  The  Last  Leaf;  The 
Chambered  Nautilus ;  The  Voiceless ;  The  Crooked  Footpath ; 
Union  and  Liberty;  God  Save  the  Flag;  Contentment;  The 
Deacon's  Masterpiece ;  Grandmother's  Story  of  Bunker  Hill 
Battle  ;  The  Boys  ;  The  Living  Temple  ;  The  Iron  Gate. 

Prose:  The  Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table. 

Class  Reading.  —  Poetry :  A  Ballad  of  the  Boston  Tea- 
Party  ;  Aunt  Tabitha;  Dorothy  Q. ;  Homesick  in  Heaven;  The 


vi]  THE   CAMBRIDGE    POETS  303 

Prologue  ;  The  Broomstick  Train  ;  The  Schoolboy  ;  Under  the 
Violets  ;  The  Height  of  the  Ridiculous  ;  Brother  Jonathan's 
Lament  for  Sister  Caroline  ;  Never  or  Now ;  Parson  Turell's 
Legacy  ;  Epilogue  to  the  Breakfast  Table  Series. 

Prose :  My  Hunt  after  the  Captain  ;  Elsie  Venner  ;  Over  the 
Teacups. 

Biography  and  Criticism. — Morse's  "Life  and  Letters 
of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes."  Kennedy's  "Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes."  Brown's  "  Life  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes."  Mrs. 
Fields's  "  Authors  and  Friends."  Jerrold's  "  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes"  (Dilettante  Library).  Mrs.  Phelps-Ward's  "Chap 
ters  from  a  Life."  Stoddard's  "American  Poets  and  Their 
Homes."  Oilman's  "Poets'  Homes."  Autobiographic  Remi 
niscences  in  "Pages  from  an  Old  Volume  of  Life";  "The 
New  Portfolio"  ;  and  the  poem  "  The  Schoolboy."  Stedman's 
"  Poets  of  America."  Curtis's  "Literary  and  Social  Essays." 
Lodge's  "  Certain  Accepted  Heroes,  and  Other  Essays."  Rich 
ardson's  "American  Literature,"  Vol.  I,  chap.  10;  Vol.  II, 
chap.  6.  Leslie  Stephen's  "  Studies  of  a  Biographer,"  Vol.  II 
Higginson's  "Old  Cambridge."  Whipple's  "American  Liter 
ature."  Lowell's  "  Fable  for  Critics."  Howells's  "Literary 
Friends  and  Acquaintance."  Wendell's  "Literary  History 
of  America."  Smalley's  "Studies  of  Men."  Carpenter's 
"American  Prose."  Whittier's  "Literary  Recreations." 

Poets'  Tributes.  —  Whittier's  "  Our  Autocrat,"  and  "To 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes."  Aldrich's  "  The  Sailing  of  the 
Autocrat."  Lowell's  "To  O.  W.  II.  on  his  75th  Birthday." 
Edmund  Gosse's  "  Letter  to  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  on 
his  75th  Birthday."  Gilder's  "August  29,  1809."  Bret 
Harte's  "Our  Laureate."  Mrs.  Dorr's  "0.  W.  H."  Helen 
Hunt  Jackson's  "  To  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  on  his  70th 
Birthday."  Trowbridge's  "Filling  an  Order."  Stedman's 
"Ergo  Iris."  Winter's  "Oliver  Wendell  Holmes;  or  the 
Chieftain."  Lucy  Larcom's  "0.  W.  H."  Cranch's  "  Te 
Oliver  Wendell  Holmes." 


CHAPTER   VII 

LITERATURE   IN   THE  SOUTH 

ONE  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  our  national 
progress  is  the  rapid  development  in  recent  years  of 
literature  in  the  South.  A  "new  South"  has  arisen 
since  the  Civil  War,  with  new  impulses  and  new 
ideals.  Sectionalism  has  given  Avay  to  national  inter 
ests  and  sympathies.  Much  that  was  picturesque  and 
beautiful  under  the  old  regime  has  disappeared  for- 
The  New  ever,  and  sons  of  the  last  generation,  like 
South  joei  Chandler  Harris,  cannot  but  look  back 

with  tender  emotions  to  "the  dear  remembered  days." 
But  tears  of  regret  soon  vanish  in  the  warm  flush  of  a 
new  energy  put  forth  to  bring  the  life  of  the  South 
into  closer  touch  with  the  life  of  the  nation  and  of 
the  world.  Of  this  new,  hopeful,  aspiring  South  the 
Southern  poet,  Maurice  Thompson,  sings  :  — 

The  South  whose  gaze  is  cast 

Jso  more  upon  the  past, 

But  whose  bright  eyes  the  skies  of  promise  sweep, 
Whose  feet  in  paths  of  progress  swiftly  leap  ; 
And  whose  fresh  thoughts,  like  cheerful  rivers  run, 
Through  odorous  ways  to  meet  the  morning  sun  ! 

Before  the  Civil  War  the  conditions  of  the  South 
were  unfavorable  for  literary  production.     King  Cot- 
304 


CHAP,  vn]       LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH  305 

ton  did  not  invite  the  poets  to  his  court.  There  was 
no  large  reading  public  to  encourage  and  support 
genius,  there  were  no  large  publishing  houses,  and  no 
large  centers  of  intellectual  influence  like  some  of 
the  Northern  cities.  There  was  literary  taste  and 
culture  in  many  of  the  isolated  families  on  the  great 
plantations,  but  it  was  unproductive,  con- 
servative,  and  in  complete  vassalage  to  unfavorable 
England,  held  in  complacent  submission 
by  the  rules  of  Pope  and  Addison's  school.  The 
active  intellectual  forces  were  engaged  with  the  prob 
lems  engendered  by  slavery,  and  talent  was  attracted 
to  politics  and  oratory ;  men  of  gifts  and  ambition 
became  lawyers  and  statesmen.  Moreover,  to  devote 
oneself  to  the  service  of  the  muses  was  regarded  as 
an  unmanly  occupation,  hence  imaginative  literature 
suffered  from  the  disparagement  of  a  mild  contempt. 
Simms,  the  novelist,  complained  bitterly  of  social 
neglect  incurred  by  his  choice  of  literature  as  a  pro 
fession.  Longstreet,  the  author  of  "  Georgia  Scenes," 
one  of  the  raciest  volumes  of  local  sketches  in  our 
literature,  made  strenuous  efforts  to  suppress  his  book 
after  its  publication,  and  Richard  Henry  Wilde,  law 
yer  and  member  of  Congress,  could  not  be  induced  to 
acknowledge  his  authorship  of  the  beautiful  little 
lyric,  "My  Life  is  like  the  Summer  Rose,"  until  it 
was  being  claimed  by  others.  It  should  be  said,  how 
ever,  that  nowhere  in  the  United  States,  in  those  days, 
was  literature  so  highly  valued  as  to  justify,  to  prac- 


306  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

tical  minds,  its  choice  as  a  profession  to  live  by. 
Even  our  greatest  authors  prudently  fortified  them 
selves  against  material  needs  by  a  professorship  or 
other  means  of  permanent  income. 

Under  these  discouraging  conditions  the  efforts  of 
ante-bellum  writers  to  establish  a  literature  for  their 
section  necessarily  resulted  in  a  pretty  uniform  suc 
cession  of  failures.  Of  the  poets  of  this  early  period, 

Poe  alone  rose   to   enduring   fame.      One 
Early  Efforts  & 

may  gather   a   chaplet   of  wilding  verses 

that  sprang  up  like  careless  flowers  along  the  way 
sides,  now  faded  somewhat,  yet  still  breathing  the 
perfumes  of  the  Southern  wind ;  like  Pinkney's 
"A  Health,"  Albert  Pike's  "To  the  Mocking-Bird," 
Philip  Pendleton  Cooke's  "  Florence  Vane,"  O'Hara's 
"  Bivouac  of  the  Dead,"  Foster's  "  My  Old  Kentucky 
Home,"  Simms's  "  Lost  Pleiad,"  and  Wilde's  delicate 
little  lyric  that  is  still  as  tenderly  sweet  as  a  spray  of 
jasmine. 

The  effort  in  fiction  was  more  serious  and  success 
ful.  Three  writers,  at  least,  gained  temporarily  a 
national  celebrity,  which  is  not  even  yet  entirely 
obscured.  John  Pendleton  Kennedy,  John  Esten 
Cooke,  and  William  Gilmore  Simins,  aspiring  to  do 
John  Pendi  -  ^or  their  highland  what  Irving,  Cooper, 
ton  Kennedy,  and  Hawthorne  were  doing  for  local  tradi 
tion  and  history  in  the  North,  wrote  affec 
tionately  and  well  of  the  customs,  scenery,  and  history 
of  their  native  states.  Kennedy's  "  Swallow  Barn," 


Vii]  LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH  307 

published  in  1832,  is  a  graceful  narrative  in  the 
manner  of  "Bracebridge  Hall,"  describing  rural  life 
and  character  in  Virginia  just  after  the  Revolution. 
His  stirring  romance,  "Horseshoe  Robinson,"  deals 
with  a  real  hero  and  real  scenes  in  South  Carolina 
during  the  Revolution.  "  Rob  of  the  Bowl "  pictures 
his  native  Maryland  in  colonial  days.  Cooke's  "  Vir 
ginia  Comedians,"  in  Richardson's  judgment  "the  best 
novel  written  in  the  Southern  States  before  the  Civil 
War,"  is  a  faithful  transcript  of  the  grand  old  chival 
rous  times  when  picturesque  Williamsburg  was  the 
social  capital,  "when  the  old  burg  was  the  „ 

John  Esten 

seat  of  fashion,  taste,  refinement,  hospital-  cooke, 
ity,  wealth,  wit,  and  all  the  social  graces."  x  3°~' 
Cooke  was  a  "  Virginian  of  the  Virginians,"  loyal  in 
heart  and  deed  to  his  people ;  he  fought  bravely  for 
the  Confederate  cause,  accepted  the  result  without 
bitterness,  and  engaged  again  busily  in  the  making 
of  books.  "  Surry  of  Eagle's  Nest "  and  other  war 
stories  perhaps  justify  a  Southern  critic  in  saying 
that  he  "  must  ever  remain  preeminently  the  novelist 
of  the  war  from  the  Southern  standpoint."  But  his 
novels  are  of  the  old  romantic-sentimental  type,  and 
the  brocaded  English,  Byronesque  heroes,  and  un 
natural  action  of  this  type  of  fiction  have  lost  their 
charm.  Shortly  before  his  death  Cooke  said:  "Mr. 
Ho  wells  and  the  other  realists  have  crowded  me  out 
of  the  popular  regard  as  a  novelist,  and  have  brought 
the  kind  of  fiction  I  write  into  sreneral  disfavor.  I  do 


308  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

not  complain  of  that,  for  they  are  right.  They  see, 
as  I  do,  that  fiction  should  faithfully  reflect  life,  and 
they  obey  the  law,  while  I  was  born  too  soon,  and  am 
now  too  old  to  learn  my  trade  anew."  The  change 
recorded  in  this  quotation  marked  an  epoch  in  our 
literature. 

WILLIAM    GILMORE   SIMMS 
1806-1870 

"William  Gilmore  Simms  was  a  stalwart  and  volu 
minous  writer  of  novels,  poems,  history,  biography, 
political  tracts  —  everything  known  to  the  pen.  More 
than  thirty  novels  are  counted  in  the  long  list  of  his 
works.  He  was  called  the  "  Southern  Cooper."  In  a 
manner  like  Cooper's,  though  not  equal  to  it,  he  dealt 
A  "Southern  with  Indians,  frontier  adventure,  colonial 
Cooper"  life,  and  Revolutionary  history,  so  success 
fully  as  to  bring  him  wide  popularity  and  liberal 
profit.  "  The  Yemassee,"  his  best  novel,  is  a  vigor 
ous  and  vivid  picture  of  the  Southern  wilderness, 
with  Indian  characters  drawn  more  true  to  life  than 
Cooper's  lay -figures  of  the  forest.  "  The  Partisan,"  a 
tale  of  Marion's  men,  is  the  best  of  his  Revolutionary 
romances,  and  is  still  a  good  boy's  book,  with  power 
enough  to  hold  older  readers.  Other  romances  of  the 
Revolution  are  " Mellichampe,"  "Katharine  Walton," 
and  "  Eutaw."  As  literature,  Simms's  stories  of  wild 
and  bloody  adventure  have  served  their  day  and  gen 
eration,  and  are  read  no  more ;  but  some  of  them  de- 


vn]  LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH  309 

serve  to  be  rescued  from  oblivion  for  their  historic 
value.  He  was  a  devoted  student  of  local  history, 
and  the  materials  of  his  backgrounds  he  Literary 
knew  thoroughly  well.  His  workmanship,  Shortcomings 
however,  was  coarse  and  careless,  wanting  entirely  in 
deftness,  grace,  and  finish.  He  wrote  at  a  galloping 
pace,  astonishing  his  friends  with  feats  of  productive 
strength,  in  a  pompous  and  stilted  style  that  exhibits 
too  generally  a  happy  indifference  to  the  proprieties 
of  construction,  aiming  at  striking  effects  by  means 
of  rapid  action,  picturesque  scenery,  and  sensational 
incidents.  Yet  Sinims  stands  in  the  presence  of  the 
skilled  craftsmen  of  to-day  not  wholly  without  claims 
to  respect.  In  a  moderate  summary  his  biographer 
says:  "He  has  described  with  vigor,  and  sometimes 
with  charm,  the  events  of  an  interesting  epoch;  he 
has  reproduced  the  characteristic  features  of  a  life 
that  is  gone;  he  has  painted  a  landscape,  which,  if 
it  still  exists,  has  nevertheless  been  subject  to  many 
changes.  No  one  will  ever  do  the  same  work  as  well ; 
and  it  was  worth  doing." 

The  literary  activities  of  the   South  were  chiefly 
centered  in  Charleston,  Simms's  native  city.     Here, 
Maecenas-like,  Simms  gathered  about  him  a  company 
of  young  writers  ambitious  to  become  the  founders 
of  a  Southern  literature.     Simms  believed  His 
himself  a  poet,  and  published  some  seven-  influence 
teen  volumes  of  verse  in  support  of  his  conviction ; 
but  his  best  contribution  to  poetry  was  made  in  plant- 


310  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

ing  high  hopes  in  the  hearts  of  younger  men,  like 
Hayne  and  Timrod,  who  possessed  the  true  poetic 
gift.  At  "  Woodlands,"  his  beautiful  country  home, 
he  dispensed  a  liberal  old-time  hospitality,  entertain 
ing  royally  all  who  came  in  the  name  and  fellowship 
of  letters.  As  a  stanch  pioneer  and  patron,  inspirit 
ing,  nurturing  by  his  enthusiasm  the  frail  beginnings 
of  a  literature,  Simms  exerted  an  influence  for  which 
his  name,  if  not  his  books,  should  long  be  held  in 
honor. 

EDGAR   ALLAN   POE 
1809-1849 

The  most  important  influence  emanating  from  these 
literary  strivings  of  the  South,  strong,  permanent,  and 
far-reaching,  was  the  work  of  Edgar  Allan  Foe,  a 
strange  and  solitary  figure  in  American  literature. 
Though  not  a  full-born  son  of  the  South,  in  natural 
temperament  and  in  the  tone  and  coloring  of  his  writ 
ing  he  was  thoroughly  Southern. 

Edgar  Poe,  grandson  of  David  Poe,  a  Revolutionary 
patriot  and  founder  of  the  family  in  Maryland,  was 
born  in  Boston,  January  19,  1809.  The  father  had 
married  an  English  actress  in  1805,  adopted  her  pro 
fession,  and  thereby  alienated  himself  from 
A  Life 

beginning  in  his  family.  In  1811,  owing  to  the  illness 
Misfortune  of  Mrg  p^  the  strolling  famiiy  became 

objects  of  charity  in  Richmond,  and  a  benefit  was 
given  them,  the  advertisement  being  addressed  "To 


LITERATURE   IX   THE   SOUTH 


311 


the  Humane."  A  few  days  later  the  motner  died 
leaving  three  children,  —  William,  Edgar,  and  Ko- 
salie ;  of  the  father  nothing  further  is  known.  The 
bright  and  attractive  child  Edgar  was  adopted  by  Mr. 
John  Allan,  a  wealthy  tobacco  merchant,  in  whose 
household  his 
boyhood  was 
spent  in  luxury, 
indulgence,  and 
flattery.  At  six 
he  could  read, 
sing,  dance,  and 
recite  passages 
from  the  great 
poets  "  in  a  sweet 
voice  and  with 
clear  enuncia 
tion."  Another 
early  accomplish 
ment,  of  evil 
portent,  was  to 
stand  in  a  chair 
and  pledge  the  guests  at  table  "  right  roguishly  "  in  a 
glass  of  wine. 

The  Allans  went  to  England  in  1815  and  for  about 
five  years  Edgar  attended  school  at  Stoke  Newington, 
near  London,  spending  vacations  in  travel  with  his 
foster  parents.  Here  he  showed  a  "  scholarly  spirit," 
learned  to  speak  French  and  read  Latin,  and  for  one 


Edgar  Allan  Poe 


312  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

of  his  years  acquired  a  wide  knowledge  of  history  and 
literature.     Dr.  Bransby,  the  parson-teacher,  remem 
bered  that  he  "liked  him,"  and  that  his 

Education  .•,-,-,• 

parents  "spoiled  him  '  with  pocket  money. 
Recollections  of  this  school  were  woven  into  the  ro 
mance,  "William  Wilson."  Returning  to  Richmond, 
he  studied  with  good  teachers,  attracted  attention  for 
his  cleverness  in  verse  making,  and  became  foremost 
in  athletic  sports,  performing  feats  of  swimming  equal 
to  those  of  Byron.  In  1826  he  entered  the  University 
of  Virginia,  established  a  reputation  for  scholarship, 
and  won  highest  honors  in  Latin  and  French.  But  he 
also  made  a  reputation  for  drinking  and  gambling,  the 
common  vices  of  the  period,  indulging  with  a  "peculiar 
recklessness,"  which  however  was  "  indicative  of  ex 
citable  temperament  rather  than  pleasure  in  his  cups 
or  cards."  Mr.  Allan  learning  of  his  large  gambling 
debts  refused  to  honor  them,  removed  him  from  college 
before  the  end  of  the  first  year,  and  placed  him  in  his 
own  counting-room.  An  impulsive  and  willful  dispo 
sition,  pampered  by  long  indulgence,  could  not  be  sud 
denly  disciplined  into  stable  habits  by  this  treatment ; 
not  strangely,  therefore,  the  high-spirited  young  poet 
broke  the  parental  tie,  went  to  Boston  in  search  of  his 
Military  fortune,  and  enlisted  in  the  regular  army. 
Experience  After  two  years  of  service,  with  promotion 
to  the  rank  of  Sergeant  Major,  a  reconciliation  with 
Mr.  Allan  was  effected  and  an  appointment  obtained  at 
West  Point.  Less  than  a  year  of  this  scholastic  mili- 


vii]  LITERATURE    IN   THE   SOUTH  313 

tarism  was  enough  for  his  restless  spirit,  and,  as  he  was 
not  permitted  to  resign,  expulsion  was  brought  about  by 
means  of  his  own  devising.  This  caused  the  final  break 
with  his  foster  father,  and  Poe  was  now  launched  upon 
his  career  of  literary  adventure,  poverty,  suffering, 
and  despair.  At  West  Point  as  elsewhere  he  had  dis 
tinguished  himself  by  singularities  of  mind  and  habits, 
brilliant  intellectual  powers,  and  "  a  wonderful  aptitude 
for  mathematics,"  and  as  "a  devourer  of  books"  with 
a  "  wayward  and  capricious  temper." 

During  this  military  trifling  the  poetic  desire  had 
been  stirring  within  him.  At  Boston,  in  1827,  he 
managed  to  publish  a  thin  volume  of  Byronic  imita 
tions,  entitled  "  Tamerlane,  and  Other  Poems,"  con 
taining  little  or  no  suggestion  of  his  future  style. 
Two  years  later  "  Al  Aaraaf,  Tamerlane,  and  Minor 
Poems "  appeared  at  Baltimore.  In  1831  . 
he  published  at  New  York  a  third  volume  volumes 
entitled  simply  "  Poems,"  apparently  with 
subscriptions  obtained  from  the  cadets  on  leaving  West 
Point,  who  looked  for  interesting  local  squibs  in  the 
volume.  But  his  poetic  art  was  always  treated  seri 
ously  by  Poe,  almost  sacredly.  The  volume  contained 
only  revised  versions  of  the  old  poems,  with  a  few  new 
ones,  among  them  two  of  his  choicest  lyrics  —  "To 
Helen  "  and  the  first  draft  of  the  exquisite  "  Israf el," 
which  Woodberry  calls  the  "first  pure  song  of  the 
poet,  the  notes  most  clear  and  liquid  and  soaring  of 
all  he  ever  sang." 


314  AME1UCAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

The  outcast  now  found  a  home  in  Baltimore  with  an 
aunt,  Mrs.  Clem  in,  whose  daughter  Virginia  became  his 
wife.  In  1833  he  won  a  prize  of  one  hundred  dollars, 
offered  by  a  Baltimore  literary  journal,  with  the  story 
"  A  MS.  Found  in  a  Bottle."  One  of  the  judges  was 
John  P.  Kennedy,  to  whom  for  friendly  aid  at  this 
First  Prose  time  Poe  declared  himself  to  be  indebted 
work  «for  }ife  itself."  "I  found  him,"  wrote, 

Kennedy  in  his  diary,  "in  a  state  of  starvation.  I 
gave  him  clothing,  free  access  to  my  table,  and  the  use 
of  a  horse  for  exercise  whenever  he  chose ;  in  fact, 
brought  him  up  from  the  very  verge  of  despair." 
Through  Kennedy's  assistance  Poe  obtained  the  edi 
torship  of  the  /Southern  Literary  Messenger,  which 
under  his  able  management  became  one  of  the  leading 
magazines  of  the  country.  In  the  heyday  of  success  he 
lost  this  position,  probably  through  irregular  habits. 

The  next  six  years  Poe  spent  mainly  in  Philadel 
phia,  a  hackwriter  for  booksellers,  magazines,  and 
"annuals,"  editing  for  a  time  The  Gentleman's  Maga 
zine  and  Graham's  Magazine.  In  1839  he  published 
a  collection  of  his  magazine  stories,  "  Tales  of  the 
Grotesque  and  Arabesque,"  a  title  descriptive  of  the 
two  extremes  of  his  method  in  fiction.  In  1844  he 
Editorial  moved  to  New  York,  edited  the  Broadway 
Labor;  sor-  Journal,  and  was  associated  with  Willis  on 

row;  Despair    jn       _.  .          ,  .   ,     .      _,  0  .  „  ,.  „,, 

the  Evening  Mirror,  in  which  in  184o  "  The 
Raven "  appeared,  making  him  for  the  hour  the 
most  famous  literary  man  in  America.  Prosperity 


vi  i  J  LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH  315 

was  now  within  reach.  But  "  unmerciful  disastei1," 
like  an  avenging  spirit,  through  his  whole  career  "  fol 
lowed  fast  and  followed  faster."  His  health  was  pre 
maturely  shattered  by  overwork,  by  poverty,  and  by 
intemperance,  against  which  he  struggled,  manfully  at 
times,  but  always  in  a  losing  fight.  In  the  little  cot 
tage  at  Fordham,  in  most  pitiable  destitution,  he 
watched  at  the  deathbed  of  his  child  wife,  Virginia, 
his  "Ulalume,"  whom  he  worshiped  with  devoted 
love,  a  love  beautifully  symbolized  in  "  Eleonora." 
For  years  he  had  seen  the  life  of  this  frail  wife  ebb 
ing  away  and  when  her  delicate  spirit  passed 

To  the  Lethean  peace  of  the  skies, 

the  hope  of  his  own  soul  was  gone.  Two  years  longer 
he  kept  up  the  contest  with  his  evil  destiny,  and  then 
in  an  hour  of  supreme  expectation  yielded  to  the  final 
triumph  of  the  demon  in  the  cup.  He  died  October  7, 
1849,  in  a  hospital  in  Baltimore,  whither  he  had  been 
carried  from  the  street  in  a  state  of  unconsciousness. 

A  memorial  tablet  in  the  New  York  Museum  of  Art 
bears  this  inscription :  "  He  was  great  in  his  genius, 
unhappy  in  his  life,  wretched  in  his  death,  but  in  his 
fame  he  is  immortal." 

The  evil  genius  that  attended  Poe  through  life  has 
ruthlessly  pursued  his  memory.  Few  poets  have  ever 
suffered  so  cruelly  from  the  prejudice  and  scorn  of 
their  own  countrymen.  His  first  biographer,  Griswold, 
wrote  an  infamous  book  whose  poison  has  been  effec- 


316  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

tive  for  nearly  half  a  century  ;  his  last  and  most  com 
petent  biographer,  Professor  Woodberry,  is  moved 
Personal  from  a  calm  judicial  poise  neither  by  sym- 
Misfortunes  pathy  nor  by  charity.  In  a  single  sen 
tence  Poe  described  himself :  "  My  life  has  been 
whim  —  impulse  —  passion  —  a  longing  for  solitude  — 
a  scorn  of  all  things  present  in  an  earnest  desire  for 
the  future."  He  was  proud,  vain,  erratic,  with  an  ex 
ceedingly  sensitive  and  morose  temperament ;  and  he 
drank,  and  in  his  last  years  took  opium.  Intem 
perance  was  inherited,  instilled  by  education,  and 
invited  by  suffering  —  a  fatal  frailty  which  he  shared 
with  Coleridge,  De  Quincey,  and  Lamb.  In  personal 
manners  he  was  refined  and  gentlemanly,  in  conversa 
tion  elegant  and  fascinating,  in  his  domestic  life  pure, 
loving,  and  beloved. 

Poe  must  be  studied  as  critic,  poet,  and  romancer ; 
in  each  department  his  work  was  original  and  founda- 
tional.  He  gave  models  to  American  authors  at  a 
time  when  new  models  and  new  methods  were  much 
needed.  In  his  reviews  of  new  books,  which  he 
always  made  a  prominent  feature  of  his  editorial 
work,  he  taught  American  authors  their  first  lesson 
in  independent  criticism,  demonstrating  the  function 
Poe's  work  °f  taste  and  literary  principles.  His  criti- 
as  a  Critic  cism  was  acute,  fearless,  often  severe,  and 
sometimes  unjust,  owing  to  personal  animosities.  "He 
seems  at  times,"  said  Lowell,  "  to  mistake  his  vial  of 
prussic  acid  for  his  inkstand-"  But  acid  was  needed 


vu]  LITERATURE    IX   THE   SOUTH  317 

to  counteract  the  saccharine  quality  of  the  criticism  of 
the  period,  which  served  mainly  as  a  means  of  mutual 
compliment  among  authors.  His  most  important  judg 
ments  have  all  been  confirmed  by  subsequent  fame. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  to  proclaim  the  true  genius  of 
Lowell,  Hawthorne,  Mrs.  Browning,  Dickens,  and  Ten 
nyson.  Longfellow  he  foolishly  accused  of  plagiarism, 
yet  rated  him  as  the  greatest  American  poet.  He  was 
a  free  lance,  and  punctured  relentlessly  the  pufferies  of 
mediocrity,  thereby  raising  a  storm  of  slanderous  and 
revengeful  abuse.  The  "  Literati "  and  "  Marginalia  " 
are  still  piquant  reading  and  suggestive  criticism. 

As  a  poet  Poe  worked  in  a  very  limited  field,  but 
within  his  limits  he  made  himself  supreme.  He  is  the 
poet  of  one  mood ;  melancholy  possesses  his  soul ;  he 
walks  in  the  shadow  of  death,  and  despairing  grief  is 
his  theme.  The  season  of  his  inspiration  is  "  lone 
some  October,"  the  place,  the  "  dank  tarn  of  Auber," 
the  hour,  "  midnight  dreary."  There  is  little  objective 
reality  in  his  verse  or  prose ;  he  works  in 

Chd.r3.ct6r- 

the   pure  ether  of  the  imagination.     The  istics  of  his 
characters  are  bloodless,  ghostly,  or  angelic. 
Landscape,  incident,  persons,  and  places  have  no  exist 
ence  outside  his  fancy.    He  is  a  lesser  Coleridge.    The 
chief  pleasure  of  his  poetry  arises  from  its  exquisite 
melody.     There  is  a  potent  magic  in  his  expression, 
quite  independent  of  the  symbolic  meaning  his  words 
are  intended  to  convey.     In  the  "  Haunted   Palace," 
for  example,  one  loses  the  allegory  while  listening  to 


318  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

the  music.  Upon  the  simplest  verse  forms,  usually 
the  ballad  measure,  he  imposes  a  rhythmic  beauty, 
prolonged  by  the  refrain  in  a  strange  haunting  appeal, 
that  is  marvelous.  Stedman  calls  him  the  "  forerun 
ner  of  our  chief  experts  in  form  and  sound."  And 
similarly  the  English  poet-critic  Gosse  declares :  "  Poe 
has  proved  himself  to  be  the  Piper  of  Hamelin  to  all 
later  English  poets.  From  Tennyson  to  Austin  Dob- 
son  there  is  hardly  one  whose  verse  music  does  not 
show  traces  of  Poe's  influence." 

Poe  worked  out  a  theory  of  poetic  art,  expounded 
in  "  The  Poetic  Principle,"  to  which  he  adhered  con<- 
sistently.  Poetry  he  defines  as  "  the  rhythmical  crea 
tion  of  beauty";  its  object  is  pleasure,  not  truth; 
"  The  Poetic  music  is  its  essential  element,  hence  sound 
Principle"  may  fog  superior  to  sense,  and  didacticism 
is  a  "  heresy."  Since  intense  emotion  cannot  be  long 
sustained,  a  long  poem  is  a  "  contradiction  in  terms." 
An  epic  is  not  a  true  poem,  at  best  only  a  "  series  of 
lyrics  "  woven  together  with  uninteresting  material. 
By  the  same  reasoning,  he  maintained  that  prose 
romances  should  be  short.  These  critical  principles 
are  valuable,  but  not  fundamental,  and  indicate  Poe's 
own  unrecognized  limitations. 

The  reputation  of  Poe's  poetry,  based  upon  hardly 
more  than  a  dozen  lyrics,  has  advanced  steadily  since 
his  death,  in  spite  of  hostile  and  contemptuous  criti 
cism.  "  The  Raven  ''  has  been  called  "  the  most  popu 
lar  lyrical  poem  in  the  world."  Certainly  no  other 


vu]  LITERATURE    IX   THE    SOUTH  319 

modern  lyric  has  been  so  widely  discussed  and  so  fre 
quently  translated  into  other  languages.  Says  Sted- 
inan :  "  The  melody  of  this  strange  poem  is  that  of  a 
vocal  dead  march  and  so  compulsive  with  its  peculiar 
measure,  its  refrain  and  repetends,  that  in  the  end 
even  the  more  critical  yielded  to  its  quaintness  and 
fantasy,  and  accorded  it  a  lasting  place  in  His  Lyrical 
literature."  The  marvelous  vocal  manipu-  Power 
lation  of  words  in  the  "  Bells "  is  without  a  rival. 
This  poem,  as  first  published,  was  but  eighteen  lines 
long.  With  an  insatiate  desire  for  perfection,  Poe 
repeatedly  recast  and  refined  his  poetry,  laboring  upon 
a  precious  bit  of  art  like  a  devoted  lapidary.  Prob 
ably  the  most  spontaneous  lyrics  are  "  Ulalume,"  and 
"Annabel  Lee,"  in  which  is  undoubtedly  enshrined 
the  memory  of  his  beautiful  wife. 

But  our  love  it  was  stronger  by  far  than  the  love 

Of  those  who  were  older  than  we, 

Of  many  far  wiser  than  we  ; 
And  neither  the  angels  in  heaven  above, 

Nor  the  demons  down  under  the  sea, 
Can  ever  dissever  my  soul  from  the  soul 

Of  the  beautiful  Annabel  Lee. 

Many,  with  Emerson,  may  regard  such  verse  as  merely 
the  work  of  a  "jingle  man,"  but  no  one  with  the  true 
poetic  sense  can  escape  the  fascination  of  such  melody. 
Poe's  power  was  lyrical  only.  Poetry  was  with  him, 
he  said,  "  not  a  purpose  but  a  passion,"  and  into  these 
few  scrupulously  wrought  lyrics  he  poured  the  very 


320  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

finest  of  his  mystical  aspirations.  His  highest  endow 
ment  was  like  that  of  his  own  "  Israfel "  — 

Whose  heartstrings  are  a  lute. 

The  prose  romances  stand  unique  and  original  in 
fiction,  as  do  his  lyrics  in  poetry.  Their  motives  are 
beauty,  mystery,  and  terror.  In  style  they  are  as 
scrupulously  artistic  as  the  poems,  remarkable  espe 
cially  for  the  purity  and  refinement  of  language. 
Some,  like  "  Ligeia,"  "  Shadow,"  and  "  The  Domain  of 
Aruheim,"  are  veritable  prose  poems.  But  the  same 
masterly  art  is  often  employed  upon  themes  that  are 
The  Prose  repulsive,  horrible,  and  blood-freezing.  Poe 
Tales  at  times  equals  Hawthorne  in  the  art  of 

the  short  story,  but  he  lacks  the  moral  and  spiritual 
qualities  that  enrich  Hawthorne's  tales.  The  human 
element  is  wanting,  the  broad  and  subtle  sympathy 
with  external  life.  "  The  New  Englander  had  the  pro- 
founder  insight ;  the  Southerner's  magic  was  that  of 
the  necromancer  who  resorts  to  spells  and  devices." 
There  is  also  no  humor,  the  nearest  approach  being 
the  fantastic  and  grotesque.  The  finest  stories,  never 
theless,  the  "  Fall  of  the  House  of  Usher,"  "  Shadow," 
"The  Gold  Bug,"  and  qthers,  are  accepted  master 
pieces  that  have  served  as  models  for  all  subsequent 
workers  in  fiction.  "  The  Murders  in  the  Rue  Morgue," 
and  others  of  the  ingenious  analytical  tales  are  proto 
types  of  the  modern  detective  story.  Poe  was  also 
a  pioneer  in  the  fiction  of  morbid  psychology  and 


vnj  LITERATURE    IN   THE   SOUTH  321 

pseudo-science.  The  man  pursued  by  his  double,  in 
"  William  Wilson,"  suggests  Stevenson's  "  Dr.  Jekyll 
and  Mr.  Hyde,"  and  a  multitude  of  Vernesque  stories 
have  their  common  paternity  in  such  tales  as  "  Hans 
Pfaall "  and  "  A  Descent  into  the  Maelstrom." 

His  best  tales,  says  Myers,  "show  an  intensity 
which  perhaps  no  successor  has  reached ;  not  only  in 
his  conception  of  the  play  of  weird  passions  in  weird 
environments,  but  in  a  still  darker  mood  of  mind 
which  must  keep  its  grim  attractiveness  as  long  as 
the  mystery  of  the  universe  shall  press  critical 
upon  the  lives  of  men."  Woodberry  says  :  Estimates 
"On  the  roll  of  our  literature  Poe's  name  is  inscribed 
with  the  few  foremost,  and  in  the  world  at  large  his 
genius  is  established  as  valid  among  all  men ; "  and 
qualifyingly  adds :  "  Being  gifted  with  the  dreaming 
instinct,  the  myth-making  faculty,  the  allegorizing 
power,  and  with  no  other  poetic  element  of  high 
genius,  he  exercised  his  art  in  a  region  of  vague 
feeling,  symbolic  ideas,  and  fantastic  imagery,  and 
wrought  his  spell  largely  through  sensuous  effects  of 
color,  sound,  and  gloom,  heightened  by  lurking  but 
unshaped  suggestions  of  mysterious  meanings.  Now 
and  then  gleams  of  light  and  stretches  of  lovely  land 
scape  shine  out,  but  for  the  most  part  his  mastery 
was  over  dismal,  superstitious,  and  waste  places." 

Class  Study.  —  Poems :  The  Raven  ;  The  Bells  ;  Ulamme  ; 
Israfel  ;  To  Helen  ;  The  Haunted  Palace  ;  Annabel  Lee  ;  The 
City  in  the  Sea  ;  To  One  in  Paradise  ;  The  Sleeper. 


322  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Tales :  The  Gold  Bug  ;  Fall  of  the  House  of  Usher ;  Shadow 
—  A  Parable. 

Reading  and  Discussion.  —  The  Purloined  Letter  ;  A  Descent 
into  the  Maelstrom  ;  The  Masque  of  the  Red  Death. 

Biography  and  Criticism. —  Woodberry's  "  Edgar  Allan  Poe  " 
(American  Men  of  Letters).  Stoddard's  "Memoir  of  Poe" 
(Collected  Works,  1884).  Stedman  and  Woodberry's  "Works 
of  Edgar  Allan  Poe,"  1894.  Ingram's  "Edgar  Allan  Poe,  his 
Life,  Letters,  and  Opinions."  Wilson's  "Bryant  and  his 
Friends."  Gill's  "  Life  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe."  Griswold's 
"Biographical  Sketch  of  Poe,"  1850.  Stedman's  "Poets  of 
America."  Richardson's  "American  Literature."  Andrew 
Lang's  "Letters  to  Dead  Authors."  Higginson's  "Short 
Studies  of  American  Authors."  Robertson's  "New  Essays 
toward  a  Critical  Method."  Lowell's  "Fable  for  Critics." 
Gosse's  "  Questions  at  Issue."  Wendell's  "  Literary  History  of 
America."  Library  of  the  World's  Best  Literature  (F.  W. 
H.Myers).  Gates's  "  Studies  and  Appreciations. "  Matthews's 
"Pen  and  Ink."  Willis's  "  Hurry  -graphs."  Fruit's  "Mind 
and  Art  of  Poe's  Poetry."  Forum,  June,  1901.  Atlantic, 
Dec.,  1899  (H.  W.  Mabie).  William  Winter's  "  Edgar  Poe." 

Out  of  the  despair  and  desolation  of  the  Civil  Wai- 
there  arose  three  Southern  poets  whose  lives  con 
stitute  the  most  pathetic  story  in  our  literature. 
They  were  alike  endowed  with  distinct  poetic  gifts, 
filled  with  pure  and  lofty  enthusiasm,  and  cruelly 
baffled  in  their  fervid  pursuit  of  poetry  by  calamitous 
misfortune.  They  served  in  the  Confederate  army, 

and  at  the  end  of  the  war  entered  upon  a 
Three  Poets 

of  Misfor-        severer  struggle  with  poverty  and  mortal 
disease.     The  war  had   swept  away  their 
ancestral    property,  the  exposures  of    army  life,  fol 
lowed   by  extreme   labor   and   penury  had   shattered 


vn]  LITERATURE   IN   THE    SOUTH  323 

their  health,  and  the  chances  for  a  literary  career 
were  almost  utterly  hopeless.  Yet  with  a  soldier's 
heart  and  a  poet's  roseate  hope  each  devoted  the  rem 
nant  of  his  broken  life  to  art,  and  sang  his  songs 
cheerfully  and  sweetly,  even  while  the  angel  of  death 
was  knocking  at  the  door.  The  purity  of  their  per 
sonal  characters  and  the  nobility  of  their  struggles 
endeared  them  to  loving  friends  and  hallowed  forever 
their  memories ;  and  their  work,  which  is  perhaps  the 
promise  more  than  the  proof  of  genius,  has  steadily 
advanced  in  the  esteem  of  the  critics  until  the  names 
of  Timrod,  Hayne,  and  Lanier  are  accorded  a  perma 
nent  place  in  the  roll  of  standard  American  poets. 

HENRY   TIMROD 
1830-1867 

Henry  Timrod,  '•  one  of  the  very  sweetest  names 
connected  with  Charleston,"  said  Lanier,  was  born  in 
Charleston  in  1830  and  died  in  1867.  He  was  edu 
cated  at  the  University  of  Georgia,  where  a  large  part 
of  his  leisure,  he  said,  "  was  occupied  with  the  com 
position  of  love  verses,  frantic  or  tender."  He  began 
the  study  of  la\v,  but  soon  exchanged  his  Blackstone 
for  more  poetic  authors,  and  for  about  ten  years  was 
engaged  in  private  tutoring.  Meanwhile  he  was  a 
member  of  the  literary  coterie  of  which  Simms  was 
the  presiding  genius,  and  with  his  friend  Hayne 
aided  in  the  ambitious  project  of  Russell's  Magazine, 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

which  like  every  early  Southern  magazine  perished 
in  tender  youth  for  want  of  appreciation.  In  1860  a 
small  volume  of  poems  was  published  in  Boston,  which 
contained  the  promise  of  wide  fame.  But  the  war 
came  and  with  heart  aflame  with  loyalty  to  his  state 
he  sang  the  Tyrtaean  strains  of  "  Carolina "  and  "  A 
Call  to  Arms,"  two  of  the  best  war  lyrics  of  the  South. 

Timrod  went  to  the  front  as  a  war  correspondent. 
In  1864  he  became  associate  editor  of  the  South 
Carolinian,  at  Columbia,  and,  believing  his  future  to 
be  secure,  married  the  "Katie"  memorialized  in  his 
poems.  In  less  than  a  year  came  Sherman's  army,  cut 
ting  its  terrible  swath  to  the  sea,  and  Timrod  was  left 
war  and  destitute.  A  few  months  later  his  idolized 
Poverty  child  died,  and  in  the  little  grave  "  a  large 
portion  of  the  father's  heart  was  buried,"  says  Hayne. 
The  two  years  more  of  life  were  a  prolonged  fight 
with  disease  and  poverty.  Gradually  the  remnants  of 
furniture  and  the  family  plate  went  for  food  and  rent. 
With  a  grim  playfulness  he  wrote :  "  Let  me  see  — 
yes,  we  have  eaten  two  silver  pitchers,  one  or  two 
dozen  silver  forks,  several  sofas,  innumerable  chairs, 
and  a  huge  —  bedstead !  "  And  yet  manfully  he 
worked  and  wrote,  with  uncomplaining  and  generous 
spirit,  to  the  sorrowful  end. 

"Timrod's  was  probably  the  most  finely  endowed 
mind  to  be  found  in  Carolina,  or  indeed  in  the  whole 
South,  at  this  period,"  says  Professor  Trent.  "  He 
has  not  left  much  work  behind  him,  and  that  work  is 


vn]  LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH  325 

marred  by  the  effects  which  constant  sickness  and 
poverty  and  the  stress  of  war  had  upon  his  genius ; 
but  he  has  left  a  few  singularly  beautiful  poems,  and 
one  at  least,  the  ode  written  for  the  occasion  of  the 
decoration  of  the  Confederate  graves  in  Magnolia 
Cemetery,  that  approximates  perfection,  —  the  per 
fection  of  Collins." 

Class  Study.  —  Spring  ;  The  Cotton  Boll ;  The  Unknown 
Dead  ;  Flower  Life  ;  Too  Long,  0  Spirit  of  Storm ;  The  Lily 
Confidante  ;  Ode,  sung  at  the  Decoration  of  Graves  of  Con 
federate  Dead. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Hayne's  Edition  of  Timrod's 
Poems,  1873.  Link's  "  Pioneers  of  Southern  Literature."  In 
troduction  to  Memorial  Edition,  1899.  Outlook,  May  11,  1901. 

Hayne's  "Under  the  Pine,"  and  "  By  the  Grave  of  Henry 
Timrod."  Austin's  "Henry  Timrod"  (Independent,  May  2, 
1901). 

PAUL    HAMILTON    HAYNE 
1830-1886 

Paul  Hamilton  Hayne,  the  "  poet  laureate  of  the 
South,"  was  born  in  Charleston,  in  1830.     He  was 
educated  under  the  fostering  care  of  his  uncle,  Robert 
Y.  Hayne,  the  illustrious  opponent  of  Webster.     Pos 
sessing  an  ample  fortune,  he  was  free  to  choose  his 
career,  and  finding  the   law   unsuited   to  his  tastes, 
early  gave  himself  to  letters.      From  the  A  Youth 
little  group  that  gathered  at   the  literary   of  Promise 
dinners  of  Simms,  he  was  selected  for  the  editorship 
of  Russell's  Magazine,  which  in  the  rose-colored  hopes 


326  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

of  these  literary  aspirants  was  to  be  the  Black- 
wood 's  of  America.  He  was  also  busily  writing  for 
the  Southern  Literary  Messenger,  and  other  periodicals. 
Poetry  was  his  destiny,  and  the  resolution  to  follow  in 
its  course  could  not  be  shaken  by  dire  calamity. 

Yet  would  I  rather  in  the  outward  state 
Of  song's  immortal  temple  lay  me  down, 

A  beggar  basking  by  that  radiant  gate, 
Than  bend  beneath  the  haughtiest  empire's  crown. 

Before  1861  Hayne  published  three  volumes  of 
poems,  which  were  well  received  by  the  critics  and 
poets  of  the  North.  He  lived  in  a  beautiful  home, 
with  a  large  library,  and  with  the  social  advantages 
of  family  prestige.  The  future  was  bright  with  the 
promise  of  a  successful  literary  career.  Moreover,  he 
was  married  to  the  woman  who,  as  Mrs.  Preston  says, 
"  by  her  self  renunciation,  her  exquisite  sympathy, 
Calamities  ner  positive,  material  help,  her  bright 
of  war  hopefulness,  made  endurable  the  losses 

and  trials  that  crowded  Hayne's  life."  At  the  out 
break  of  the  war,  like  his  fellow  poets,  filled  with  the 
passion  of  the  hour,  he  poured  his  heart  into  impetu 
ous  lyrics  like  "  My  Mother  Land  "  and  "  Beyond  the 
Potomac."  He  also  served  in  the  field  as  long  as  his 
frail  health  permitted.  But  the  bitter  end  of  the  war 
came,  and  Hayne  found  himself  a  ruined  man,  in  a 
land  of  ruined  homes  and  shattered  hopes. 

No  career  now  open  to  him  could  be  more  utterly 
hopeless  than  that  of  poet.  He  was  without  money 


vn]  LITERATURE    IN   THE    SOUTH  327 

and  without  health,  and  he  could  expect  little  aid  or 
encouragement  from  the  impoverished  people  to  whom 
his  poetry  must  be  addressed.  Undaunted,  however, 
by  the  ills  that  beset  him,  and  true  to  his  early  reso 
lution,  Hayne  procured  a  few  acres  of  land  in  the  pine 
barrens  of  northern  Georgia,  built  a  little  cottage  of 
rough,  unjointed  boards,  and  there  in  the  seclusion  of 
the  murmuring  pines,  "  among  the  peaches,  melons, 
and  strawberries  of  his  own  raising,  fought  A  Poet's 
the  fight  of  life  with  uncomplaining  brav-  Hermitage 
ery  and  persisted  in  being  happy."  Says  Maurice 
Thompson :  "  No  beauty  that  money  buys  was  there 
—  for  very  little  money  ever  crossed  the  threshold  — 
but  the  invisible,  imperishable  beauty  of  sweet  souls 
was  there,  informing  everything.  The  place  became 
a  sort  of  Southern  Mecca,  to  which  loving  folk  made 
pilgrimages;  and  its  name,  'Copse  Hill/  grew  familiar 
to  all  the  world." 

Here  Hayne  worked  until  the  end  came,  in  188G. 
In  1872  "  Legends  and  Lyrics "  appeared,  and  the 
next  year  his  edition  of  Timrod's  poems,  with  the 
tender  biography  of  his  lamented  friend.  In  1882  a 
complete  collection  of  his  poems  was  published  in 
Boston,  in  which  his  merits  were  at  last  adequately 
presented.  The  poems  written  afterward  are  unfor 
tunately  still  scattered  in  the  magazines. 

The  spirit  of  Hayne  Avas  brave,  but  gentle.  He 
sang  thrilling  war  songs,  but  sang  more  naturally  the 
beauties  of  peace.  His  talent  was  lyrical,  and  his 


328  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

finest  poems  are  those  in  which  the  lyric  emotions  are 
most  spontaneous.  His  narrative  verse,  however,  as 
in  "  Daphles,"  is  not  without  distinctive  merit.  The 
sonnet  was  a  favorite  form  with  him,  the  difficulties 
Poetic  °f  which  he  managed  with  ease,  and  often 

Qualities  with  marked  success.  His  verse  is  grace 
ful  in  finish,  smooth,  melodious,  at  times  almost  sen 
suous  in  its  music.  Deprived  of  the  broad  associations 
of  the  world,  exiled  from  the  accumulated  treasures 
of  art,  he  turned  with  intense  devotion  to  nature. 
The  pine  and  the  mocking-bird,  with  their  character 
istic  Southern  setting,  are  his  special  contributions  to 
American  poetry ;  he  is  as  true  to  his  native  soil  as 
Whittier  or  Lowell.  Filled  with  a  fervid  love  for 

The  balm  and  beauty  of  the  lustrous  South, 

in  happy  rhythmic  phrasing,  he  converts  the  common 
things  of  wood  and  field  to  the  uses  of  poetry :  peach 
blooms  that  "  blush  and  burn  "  as  "  with  love's  own  tint 
on  Spring's  enamored  face  " ;  violets  "  touched  by  the 
vapory  noontide's  fleeting  gold";  the  azaleas,  "blended 
blooms  of  fire";  the  pine  cone's  "numberless,  dim  com 
plexities  " ;  "  white  robed  lilies,"  soft  spirea,  "  woven 
of  moonshine's  misty  bars,"  and  the  jonquil  that  "riots 
like  some  rude  hoiden  uncontrolled." 

With  reverent  spirit  he  leans  his  ear  to  nature  — 

Attuned  to  every  tiniest  trill  of  sound, 

Whether  by  brook  or  bird 

The  perfumed  air  be  stirred. 
But  most,  because  the  unwearied  strains  are  fraught 


vn]  LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH  329 

With  Nature's  freedom  in  her  happiest  moods, 
I  love  the  mock-bird's  and  brown  thrush's  lay, 
The  melted  soul  of  May. 

The  melody  itself  of  the  mocking-bird's  song  he  some 
times  catches  for  his  verse  :  — 

We  scarce  can  deem  it  a  marvel, 

For  the  songs  our  nightingale  sings 
Throb  warm  and  sweet  with  the  rhythmic  beat 

Of  the  fervors  of  countless  springs. 
All  beautiful  measures  of  sky  and  earth 
Outpour  in  a  second  and  rarer  birth 
From  that  mellow  throat.     When  the  winds  are  whist, 
And  he  follows  his  mate  to  their  sunset  tryst, 
Where  the  wedded  myrtles  and  jasmine  twine, 
Oh  !  the  swell  of  his  music  is  half  divine  ! 

There  is  an  occasional  suggestion  of  Wordsworth  in 
Hayne's  poetry  —  an  echo  rather  than  an  influence, — 
and  there  is  a  frequent  undertone  of  pathos.  Even 
under  the  luminous  skies  that  lighted  up  his  pines,  the 
shadows  about  his  life  could  not  be  wholly  dissipated. 
His  pensive  thought  is  often 

Far  off,  far  off,  within  the  shrouded  heart 
Of  immemorial  hills. 

One  is  moved  almost  to  tears  by  the  heart-yearning 
expressed  in  "  England  "  :  — 

Land  of  my  father's  love,  my  father's  race, 

How  long  must  I  in  weary  exile  sigh 
To  meet  thee,  O  my  Empress,  face  to  face, 

To  kiss  thy  radiant  robes  before  I  die  ? 

But  he  is  only  lured  by  a  "  lustrous  dream  "  — 
England  !  I  shall  not  see  thee  ere  I  die. 


330  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Class  Study.  — Aspects  of  the  Pines  ;  Lyric  of  Action  ;  The 
First  Mocking-bird  in  Spring  ;  Windless  Rain  ;  The  Voice  in 
the  Pines;  To  a  Bee;  Love's  Autumn;  England.  Sonnets: 
Earth's  Odors  after  Rain  ;  October  ;  The  Hyacinth  ;  Japonicas. 

Class  Reading.  —  The  Mocking-bird  at  Night ;  Daphles  ; 
The  Little  White  Glove ;  The  Stricken  South  to  the  North  ; 
The  Battle  of  King's  Mountain  ;  Above  the  Storm  ;  Thunder 
at  Midnight ;  A  Summer  Mood  ;  Unveiled  ;  Ode  to  Sleep. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Margaret  J.  Preston's  Sketch  in 
edition  of  1882.  Link's  "Pioneers  of  Southern  Literature." 
Lariier's  "  Music  and  Poetry."  Lippincotf  s  Magazine,  Sep 
tember,  1890,  and  December,  1892. 

Philip  Bourke  Marston's  "To  Paul  Hamilton  Hayne."  Wil 
liam  Hamilton  Hayne's  "At  My  Father's  Grave." 

SIDNEY   LAMER 
1842-1881 

Of  the  little  band  of  Southern  poets,  after  Poe,  the 
one  whose  work  has  most  strongly  impressed  itself 
upon  the  critical  consciousness  of  the  period  is  Sidney 
Lanier,  whose  poems  are  rated  by  a  good  critic  as 
"  the  rarest  product  of  English  or  American  literature 
during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century/'  and  who  in  per 
sonal  character  was  so  pure,  refined,  and  chivalrous, 
and  in  the  pursuit  of  his  ideals  was  so  noble  and  de 
voted,  as  to  be  called  "the  Sir  Galahad  among 
American  poets." 

Lanier  was  born  in  Georgia  in  1842.  His  earliest 
passion  was  for  music,  an  inheritance  from  a  long  line 
of  musical  ancestors  extending  back  to  the  court  of 
Elizabeth.  Even  before  he  could  write  legibly  he 


vn]  LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH  331 

learned  to  play  the  flute,  organ,  piano,  guitar,  and 
banjo,  devoting  himself  especially  to  the  flute,  in  def 
erence  to  his  father's  wishes,  who  "  feared  for  him  the 
powerful  fascination  of  the  violin."  So  strong  was 
the  appeal  of  violin  tones  to  his  sensitive  nature  that 
from  a  state  of  exalted  rapture  he  would  sometimes 
sink  into  a  deep  trance,  from  which  he  would  awake 
"sorely  shaken  in  mind."  He  graduated  Passionfor 
from  Oglethorpe  College  at  eighteen  with  Music; study 
the  highest  honors,  and  held  a  tutorship  in 
the  college  until  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  Answering 
the  first  call  to  arms,  he  entered  the  Confederate  army 
and  served  until  1864,  three  times  refusing  promotion 
because  he  would  not  be  separated  from  his  younger 
brother.  While  in  command  of  a  blockade  runner,  he 
was  captured  by  the  Federal  forces  and  imprisoned  at 
Point  Lookout,  carrying  to  prison  his  beloved  flute  con 
cealed  in  his  sleeve.  In  camp  he  studied  French  and 
German  with  as  much  diligence  as  military  duty 
would  permit;  Heine's  poems,  Hugo's  "Les  Misera- 
bles,"  and  his  flute  were  his  consolation.  Though  loyal 
to  the  cause  for  which  he  fought,  the  unhallowed  and 
hideous  character  of  war,  as  a  means  of  righting  wrongs, 
became  more  and  more  impressed  upon  his  refined  spirit. 
His  experiences  and  impressions  during  the  war  were 
embodied  in  the  novel "  Tiger  Lilies,"  published  in  1867, 
a  book  full  of  exuberant  thought  and  luxuriant  descrip 
tion,  in  unshaded  coloring  appropriately  symbolized  by 
the  title  flower,  yet  revealing  plainly  the  poet  soul. 


332  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

After  an  imprisonment  of  five  months  he  was  re 
leased,  in  February,  1865,  and  with  much  suffering 
made  his  way  on  foot  to  the  distant  home  in  Georgia. 
A  severe  illness  followed,  and  the  seeds  of  pulmonary 
disease  were  developed,  with  which  he  battled  thence 
forth  to  the  end.  He  must  needs  earn  money,  and  so 
worked  as  clerk  in  a  hotel,  taught  in  a  country  acad 
emy,  then  studied  and  practiced  law  with  his  father. 
From  war  But  all  this  was  against  the  bent  of  his  de- 
toArt  sires.  Two  passions  ruled  his  life,  music 

and  poetry.  In  1873,  "taking  his  flute  and  pen  for 
sword  and  staff,"  he  went  North,  and  at  Baltimore  ob 
tained  an  engagement  as  first  flute  in  the  Peabocly 
Orchestra.  Here  he  now  settled  with  his  family  and 
began  the  pathetic  twofold  struggle  for  literature  and 
for  life  in  which  his  remaining  years  were  spent.  His 
father  deprecated  this  hazardous  attempt  to  live  by 
art,  but  to  his  protest  he  answered,  reminding  him  how 
through  long  years  of  poverty,  war,  sickness,  and  other 
discouragements  the  two  figures  of  music  and  poetry 
had  steadily  remained  in  his  heart :  "  Does  it  not  seem 
to  you,  as  to  me,  that  I  begin  to  have  the  right  to  en 
roll  myself  among  the  devotees  of  these  two  sublime 
arts,  after  having  followed  them  so  long  and  so  hum 
bly,  and  through  so  much  bitterness  ?  " 

Lanier  was  now  in  a  congenial  atmosphere  of  books, 
culture,  and  scholarship,  a  paradise  of  delights  and 
opportunities  for  which  his  soul  had  hungered  and 
thirsted.  He  plunged  ardently  into  thorough  courses 


vn]  LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH  333 

of  study,  mastering  Anglo-Saxon  and  Early  English, 
and  reading  extensively  in  modern  literature,  all  to  per 
fect  himself  in  the  knowledge  and  art  of  poetry.  He 
labored  for  an  enrichment  of  mind  adequate  to  sustain 
the  imagination  in  its  loftiest  flights.  Of  Poe  he  once 
remarked  with  some  truth,  "  He  did  not  know  enough." 

The  music  of  his  flute  was   a   marvelous  „ 

The  Struggle 

natural  gift;  poetry  he  studied  with  the  for  Art  and 
laborious  enthusiasm  of  a  scientist.  But 
meanwhile  his  family  must  have  bread,  so  he  wrote 
lectures  and  boys'  books  and  magazine  articles, "  when," 
as  he  said, "  a  thousand  songs  are  singing  in  my  heart, 
that  will  certainly  kill  me  if  I  do  not  utter  them  soon." 
Moreover,  work  was  frequently  stopped  for  months  at 
a  time  by  harrowing  illness.  "  He  was  driven  to  Texas, 
to  Florida,  to  Pennsylvania,  to  North  Carolina,  to  try 
to  recover  health  from  pine  breaths  and  clover  blos 
soms."  In  1879  he  was  appointed  to  a  lectureship 
on  English  Literature  in  Johns  Hopkins  University, 
which  he  held  until  his  death  in  1881,  presenting  his 
final  lectures  when  he  could  hardly  command  breath 
enough  to  make  his  words  audible.  Baffled  at  every 
step  toward  the  goal  of  his  great  desires,  and  beaten 
back  into  the  pathway  of  suffering  and  death,  he  yet 
maintained  to  the  last  a  sweet,  uncomplaining  Chris 
tian  spirit.  Between  the  lines  of  his  cheerful  commu 
nications,  however,  Hayne  thought  he  could  "detect 
the  slow,  half-muffled  throb  of  heartbreak  there." 
The  circumstances  of  his  life  form  indeed  "a  pa- 


334  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

thetically  tragic  setting  to  his  pure-souled,  beautiful 
work." 

In  1875  the  poem  "  Corn "  appeared  in  Lippincotfs 
Magazine,  announcing  widely  the  fact  that  a  star  of 
the  first  magnitude  had  arisen  in  poetry.  Bayard 
Taylor  hailed  it  as  "  the  first  new  voice  of  song  which 
the  South  has  blown  to  us  over  the  ashes  of  battle," 
work  in  verse  and  added,  "The  whole  poem  throbs  with 
and  Prose  sunshine,  and  is  musical  with  the  murmurs 
of  growing  things."  Through  Taylor's  kind  offices 
Lanier  was  invited  to' write  the  "Cantata"  for  the 
opening  of  the  Centennial  Exposition  at  Philadelphia. 
For  a  railroad  company  he  wrote  "  Florida,"  a  "  kind 
of  spiritualized  guide-book,"  he  called  it.  In  1877  he 
published  a  small  volume  of  poems,  the  only  collec 
tion  made  during  his  lifetime.  The  "  Boy's  Frois- 
sart,"  "  Boy's  King  Arthur,"  "  Boy's  Mabinogiou," 
and  "Boy's  Percy"  were  editions  of  the  old  English 
classics  prepared  for  young  people.  His  chief  work 
in  prose  is  "  The  English  Novel  and  the  Principles  of 
its  Development,"  containing  much  wise  and  luminous 
criticism  of  modern  literature,  and  "The  Science  of 
English  Verse,"  in  which  the  poet  expounds  his 
original  and  peculiar  theory  of  versification. 

Lanier  sought  to  establish  the  complete  correlation 
of  music  and  poetry.  He  wished  to  give  greater 
The  Science  freedom  to  poetic  expression  by  substitut- 
of  Poetry  jng  £or  ^ne  usuai  metrical  rules  the  rhyth 
mical  notation  of  music.  The  appeal  is  ^o  the  ear 


VH]  LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH  335 

through  harmony  and  melody.  Rhythm  is  determined, 
not  by  accents  or  number  of  syllables,  but  by  the  time 
element  alone.  Richness  and  variety  of  "  tone-color  " 
are  to  be  secured  by  rhyme,  alliteration,  and  the 
distribution  and  repetition  of  euphonious  vowels  and 
consonants.  In  short,  symphonic  effects  are  to  be 
obtained  in  verse  as  in  orchestration.  The  obvious 
criticism  upon  this  theory  is  that  the  element  of 
rhythm  in  poetry  is  magnified  to  undue  importance, 
too  studious  attention  to  sound  resulting  often  in  a 
sacrifice  of  sense  and  clearness.  The  two  master 
pieces,  "  Sunrise "  and  "  Marshes  of  Glynn,"  go  far 
toward  vindicating  his  theory.  But  Lanier  was  too 
genuine  a  poet  to  rest  in  theory  or  rules,  and  he 
concludes  his  unique  analytical  treatise  with  the 
broad  principle,  "  For  the  artist  in  verse  there  is  no 
law ;  the  perception  and  love  cf  beauty  constitute  the 
whole  outfit."  Although  to  be  regarded  as  suggestive 
rather  than  authoritative  and  final,  the  "  Science  of 
English  Verse  "  is  the  most  valuable  contribution  to 
the  subject  of  verse  structure  yet  produced. 

Only  the  latest  of  Lanier's  poems  were  written  under 
the  influence  of  his  perfected  principles,  and  these 
contain  golden  promises  of  what  he  would  have 
achieved  had  he  lived  to  give  wider  expression  to  his 
teeming  imagination.  For  onomatopoetic  rhythm  his 
"  Song  of  the  Chattahoochee  "  deserves  to  be  read  with 
Tennyson's  "  Brook  "  :  — 


336  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAI-. 

Out  of  the  hills  of  Habersham, 

Down  the  valleys  of  Hall, 
I  hurry  amain  to  reach  the  plain, 
Run  the  rapid  and  leap  the  fall, 
Split  at  the  rock  and  together  again, 
Accept  my  bed,  or  narrow  or  wide, 
And  flee  from  folly  on  every  side, 
With  a  lover's  pain  to  attain  the  plain 

Far  from  the  hills  of  Habersham, 

Far  from  the  valleys  of  Hall. 

He  was  a  passionate  lover  of  nature,  "  a  pantheist 
who  felt  God  in  everything.''  The  outward  world 
responded  to  his  fancy  with  a  consecrated,  as  well  as 
a  melodious  voice.  Like  Keats's  "  Beauty  is  truth, 
truth  beauty,"  he  coined  for  himself  a  favorite  phrase, 
"  The  beauty  of  holiness,  and  the  holiness  of  beauty." 
His  far-reaching  rhythms  are  reverberant  with  sacred 
melody :  — 

Ye  marshes,  how  candid  and  simple  and  nothing-withholding 

and  free 

Ye  publish  yourselves  to  the  sky  and  offer  yourselves  to  the  sea! 
Tolerant  plains,  that  suffer  the  sea  and  the  rains  and  the  sun. 
Ye  spread  and  span  like  the  Catholic  man  who  hath  mightily  won 
God  out  of  knowledge  and  good  out  of  infinite  pain, 
And  sight  out  of  blindness  and  purity  out  of  a  stain. 
As  the  marsh-hen  secretly  builds  on  the  watery  sod, 
Behold  I  will  build  me  a  nest  on  the  greatness  of  God  : 
I  will  fly  in  the  greatness  of  God  as  the  marsh-hen  flies 
In  the  freedom  that  fills  all  the  space  'twixt  the  marsh  and  the 

skies : 

By  so  many  roots  as  the  marsh-grass  sends  in  the  sod 
I  will  heartily  lay  me  a-hold  on  the  greatness  of  God  : 
Oh,  like  to  the  greatness  of  God  is  the  greatness  within 
The  range  of  the  marshes,  the  liberal  marshes  of  Glynn. 


vn]  LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH  337 

The  poem  "  Sunrise  "  was  the  poet's  swan  song,  poured 
forth  with  his  last  breath.  Its  wealth  of  outdoor  obser 
vation  not  only  makes  "Thoreau  seem  thin  and  arid," 
says  Higginson,  but  combined  with  this  is  "a  roll  and 
range  of  rhythm  such  as  Lowell's  '  Commemoration 
Ode '  cannot  equal,  and  only  some  of  Browning's  early 
ocean  cadences  surpass."  This  and  the  "  Marshes  of 
Glynn"  are,  says  Richard  Burton,  "magnificent  organ 
chants  of  a  dying  man,  never  so  strong  of  soul  as  when 
his  body  hung  by  a  tenuous  thread  to  life." 

The  work  of  Lanier,  says  Burton,  "  has  the  glow 
and  color  of  the  South  —  an  exuberance  of  imagina 
tion  and  a  rhythmic  sweep  which  awaken  a  kind  of 
exultant  delight  in  the  sensitive  reader.  The  Vaiue  of 
A  consummate  artist,  Lanier  showed  him-  his  Work 
self  a  pioneer  in  the  handling  of  words  and  meters ; 
his  richness  of  rhythms  and  alliterations,  his  marvel 
ous  feeling  for  tone  color,  fellow  him  with  an  English 
poet  like  Swinburne.  He  opened  new  possibilities  of 
metrical  and  stanzaic  arrangements,  and  therewith 
revealed  new  powers  of  word-use  and  combination 
in  English  poetry,  drawing  on  the  treasures  of  the 
older  word-hoard  which  his  study,  taste,  and  instinct 
suggested.  He  certainly  broadened  in  this  way  the 
technic  of  verse,  and  on  this  side  of  his  art  was  truly 
remarkable." 

Class  Study.  —  Sunrise  ;  Marshes  of  Glynn  ;  Song  of  the 
Chattahoochee  ;  Tampa  Robins  ;  Com  ;  My  Springs  ;  The  Bee  ; 
The  Stirrup  Cup. 


338  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Class  Reading.  —  The  Mocking-Bird  ;  The  Revenge  of  Ha- 
mish  ;  A  Song  of  Love  ;  A  Song  of  the  Future  ;  The  Symphony. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  William  Hayes  Ward's  "  Memo 
rial  "  ("Poems  of  Sidney  Lanier").  Baskervill's  "Sidney 
Lanier"  ("Southern  Writers").  Bayard  Taylor's  "Essays 
and  Notes."  Higginson's  "Contemporaries."  Library  of 
the  World's  Best  Literature  (Richard  Burton).  Callaway's 
"Select  Poems  of  Sidney  Lanier."  Presbyterian  Review, 
October,  1887  (Merrill  E.  Gates).  Living  Age,  May  14  and 
21,  1898  (Mme.  Blanc).  Wendell's  "Literary  History  of 
America." 

Paul  Hamilton  Hayne's  "The  Pale  of  Death."  Barbe's 
"  Sidney  Lanier  "  ("  Ashes  and  Incense  ").  William  Hamilton 
Hayne's  "  Sidney  Lanier." 


THE    STORY-TELLERS 

In  1885,  in  a  statement  of  what  he  thought  to  be 
"  the  promise  of  the  South,"  Stedman  wrote  :  "  The 
strongly  dramatic  fiction  of  Cable,  Miss  Murfree,  Page, 
Johnston,  and  others,  clearly  betokens  the  revived 
imagination  of  a  glowing  clime.  The  great  heart  of 
the  generous  and  lonely  South,  too  long  restrained,  — 
of  the  South  once  so  prodigal  of  romance,  eloquence, 
gallant  aspiration,  —  once  more  has  found  expression." 
The  promise  of  this  literary  movement,  which  began 

Southern  about  1870,  and  has  now  spread  through- 
Novelists  Qut  the  South>  has  been  richly  fuifiiie(i. 

Add  to  the  list  given  by  Stedman  the  names  of  Harris 
and  Allen  and  we  have  a  group  of  writers  represent 
ing  the  finest  story -telling  of  our  times.  In  freshness, 
originality,  truth,  dramatic  force,  and  artistic  finish 


vi i j  LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH  339 

their  work  stands  with  the  best  products  of  con 
temporary  novelists.  They  are  especially  masters 
of  the  short  story,  a  field  in  which  American  authors 
have  achieved  an  artistic  success  that  is  rivaled  only 
by  that  of  the  French.  Each  member  of  this  group, 
while  strictly  and  broadly  representative  of  his  sec 
tion,  has  selected  a  limited  field  or  particular  phase 
of  Southern  life  and  described  it  with  loving  fidelity. 
Cable  opened  to  the  view  of  the  world  the  quaint  old 
Creole  quarter  of  New  Orleans,  Harris  discovered  the 
fascinating  folklore  of  the  negro,  Page  pictured  the 
oldtime  relations  of  slave  and  master  in  Virginia, 
Johnston  described  with  a  delightfully  humorous  pen 
the  "cracker"  life  of  middle  Georgia,  Miss  Murfree 
led  her  readers  into  the  remote  wilds  of  the  Tennessee 
mountains,  and  Allen  found  romance  and  poetry  in 
the  "  blue-grass  region  "  of  Kentucky. 

George  Washington  Cable  was  born  in  New  Orleans 
in  1844.     Owing  to  financial  misfortunes  of  the  family 
he  was  early  forced  into   a  practical  money-getting 
life,  and  thus  prevented  from  obtaining  a 
systematic   education.     He   served  in  the   Washington 
Confederate  army,  and  still  bears  the  evi 
dences  of  heroic  soldiership.     After  the  war  he  passed 
through  a  varied  experience  as  clerk,  surveyor,  and 
newspaper  reporter.     In  the  brief  intervals  of  leisure 
snatched  from  the  duties  of  a  cotton  broker's  office  he 
began  writing  and  sending  to  Scribner's  Monthly  the 
short  stories  of  Creole  life  that  established  his  fame. 


340  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

They  appeared  in  book  form  in  1879.  This  volume 
was  followed  by  "The  Grandissimes,"  his  most  elab 
orate  and  powerful  novel,  "  Madame  Delphine,"  "  Dr. 
Sevier,"  and  the  idyllic  "  Bonaventure."  He  has  writ 
ten  other  books,  but  none  that  can  be  compared  with 
these  in  literary  value. 

Without  the  usual  advantages  of  early  education, 
without  literary  associations,  almost  without  books, 
by  the  mere  push  of  inherent  literary  power,  Cable 

fashioned  for  himself  a  method  and  a  style 
Style 

unsurpassed  for  grace  and  delicacy  of  finish 

in  the  prose  of  modern  fiction.  His  English  is  pure, 
simple,  smooth,  almost  poetical  in  its  refinement, 
alive  and  throbbing  with  passion,  and  pleasingly 
interwoven  with  the  melodious  dialect  of  the  Creole. 
With  the  conscience  of  a  historian  and  the  eye  of  a 
poet,  he  presents  the  scenes  and  characters  with  which 
his  own  life  was  intimately  associated ;  he  paints  the 
reality  of  a  quaint  and  picturesque  life  with  the 
fascinating  tints  of  ideal  coloring. 

Vital  and  strong  as  are  "The  Grandissimes"  and 
"Dr.  Sevier,"  Cable's  masterpieces  are  the  delicately 
artistic  short  tales  of  the  type  with  which  he  began  in 
"  Old  Creole  Days."  To  this  book  still  clings  some 
what  of  that  sense  of  delighted  surprise  with  which 
classic  Short  the  tales  were  first  read.  "  They  were  fresh, 
stories  fu\\  of  color  an(j  poetic  feeling,  romantic 

with  the  romance  of  the  life  they  portrayed,  redolent 
of  indigenous  perfumes  —  magnolia,  lemon,  orange, 


vn]  LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH  341 

and  myrtle,  mingled  with  French  exotics  from  the 
boudoir  —  interpretative  in  these  qualities,  through  a 
fine  perception,  of  a  social  condition  resulting  from  the 
transplanting  to  semi-tropical  soil  of  a  conservative, 
wealthy,  and  aristocratic  French  community.  Herein 
lay  much  of  their  most  inviting  charm ;  but  more  than 
this,  they  were  racy  with  twinkling  humor,  tender 
with  a  melting  pathos,  and  intensely  dramatic." 

" '  Uncle  Remus '  is  one  of  the  few  creations  of 
American  writers,"  says  Professor  Baskervill, 
"  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  gallery  of  the  immortals." 
The  creator  of  "  Uncle  Remus,"  Joel  joel  chandler 
Chandler  Harris,  was  born  in  Georgia  in  Harns'  l848~ 
1848.  An  account  of  his  early  life  is  given  in  his 
book  "  On  the  Plantation."  He  spent  several  years 
in  the  family  of  a  wealthy  planter,  who  possessed  a 
large  library  and  a  private  printing-press.  Here 
young  Harris  learned  printing,  read  extensively,  and 
hunted  possums  and  rabbits  with  the  negroes.  Sym 
pathy  is  his  finest  gift ;  from  his  earliest  years  he  has 
had  a  strange  sympathy  with  animals  of  all  kinds ; 
moreover,  above  all  things,  he  tells  us,  he  loves  a 
story  and  "  human  nature,  humble,  fascinating,  plain, 
common  human  nature."  It  was  through  this  extraor 
dinary  gift  of  sympathy  that  he  was  enabled,  while 
on  the  plantation,  to  penetrate  to  the  most  intimate 
secrets  of  negro  life  and  character,  and  gather  the  rich 
store  of  myth,  story,  humor,  and  wisdom  with  which  he 
has  surprised,  entertained,  and  instructed  the  world. 


342  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Sherman's  army  swept  over  the  Turner  plantation 
and  Harris's  bucolic  days  were  ended.  The  strenuous 
work  of  reconstruction  called  him,  and  he  entered 
actively  into  the  reviving  journalism  of  the  South, 
finally  becoming  associated  with  the  Atlanta  Consti 
tution,  through  which  his  fame  as  a  writer  of  negro 
"Uncle  dialect  was  first  made.  "Uncle  Remus" 

Remus"  began  his  career  of  popular  favor  in  1880, 
and  since  then  his  "  sayings "  have  been  household 
words,  and  "  Brer  Rabbit "  and  "  Brer  Fox "  have 
been  included  among  the  best-known  characters  of 
fiction.  Other  volumes  followed,  wrought  from  the 
same  delightful  material,  some  of  them  extending, 
however,  into  the  broader  field  of  representative 
Southern  life,  as  "  lights  with  Uncle  Remus," 
"Mingo,"  "Free  Joe,"  "Daddy  Jake,"  and  "Balaam 
and  his  Master." 

The  "  Uncle  Remus  "  stories  were  an  original  reve 
lation  and  a  contribution  of  the  highest  value  to 
folklore  as  well  as  to  literature.  Harris  found  the 
negro  living  in  an  unsuspected  world  of  poetry,  and 
this  world  he  has  presented  to  us  with  its  wealth  of 
quaint  story-telling,  darky  dialect,  wit,  humor,  phi 
losophy  and  "  unadulterated  human  nature."  Thomas 
Nelson  Page  generously  declares  that  "  no 
ter  of  Negro  one  who  has  ever  written  has  known  one 
tenth  part  about  the  negro  that  Mr.  Harris 
knows."  He  pictures  with  perfect  accuracy  the  life 
of  the  old  plantation  days,  giving  the  light  and  dark 


vi i]  LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH  343 

side  of  slavery,  —  its  comedy  and  its  tragedy,  its 
happiness  and  its  misery,  —  and  proves  himself  to  be 
the  negro's  perfect  interpreter  to  the  world.  "'Like 
all  genuine  humorists,"  says  Professor  Baskervill, 
"Mr.  Harris  has  his  wit  always  seasoned  with  love, 
and  a  moral  purpose  underlies  all  his  writings.  In 
the  twelve  volumes  or  more  which  he  has  published, 
he  has  preserved  traditions  and  legends,  photographed 
a  civilization,  perpetuated  types,  created  one  character. 
Humor  and  sympathy  are  his  chief  qualities,  and  in 
everything  he  is  simple  and  natural." 

Mary  Noailles  Murfree  ("Charles  Egbert  Crad- 
dock"),  who  was  born  in  1850,  near  Murfreesboro, 
Term.,  has  reclaimed  in  a  remarkable  manner  an  un 
couth  section  of  American  civilization  for  the  refined 
uses  of  literature.  During  her  early  life  she  spent 
fifteen  successive  summers  in  the  moun-  , 

Mary 

tains  of  eastern  Tennessee,  and  through  a  Noaiiies  Mur- 
keen  eye  and  a  sympathetic  heart  obtained 
a  masterly  familiarity  with  the  unique  life  of  the  rude 
mountaineers.  The  wild  features  of  mountain  peak 
and  rocky  ravine,  the  rough  qualities  of  a  lawless, 
whisky-distilling,  strangely  religious  population,  she 
reproduces  with  masculine  strength  and  boldness. 
She  possesses  also  a  dramatic  power  adequate  for  the 
presentation  of  a  society  in  which  life  and  death  are 
often  determined  by  the  swift  law  of  private  revenge 
and  bar-room  justice.  Natural  scenery  she  paints  with 
a  skillful  touch  that  shows  the  teaching  of  Ruskin, 


344  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

describing  with  a  richness  of  coloring  that  becomes 
at  times  excessive,  and  in  the  primitive  mountain 
homes  she  discovers  charming  springs  of  humor, 
pathos,  and  romance. 

"  I  'member  when  I  war  a  gal,"  says  old  Mis'  Cayce, 
"whisky  war  so  cheap  that  up  to  the  store  at  the 
settlemint  they'd  hev  a  bucket  set  full  o'  whisky  an'  a 
gourd,  free  fur  all  comers,  an'  another  bucket  along 
side  with  water  ter  season  it.  An'  the  way  that  thar 
water  lasted  war  surprisin' ;  that  it  war !  "  Such  is 
the  region  Miss  Murfree  has  made  her  own.  The 
sensation  in  America  produced  by  discovering  the 
Character-  author  of  "  A-Playin'  of  Old  Sledge  at 
isticwork  ^e  Settlemint"  to  be  a  woman  was  much 
like  that  which  attended  the  disclosure  of  the  identity 
of  George  Eliot.  Her  first  successful  books  were  "  In 
the  Tennessee  Mountains,"  1884,  a  collection  of  short 
stories ;  "  Down  the  Ravine  " ;  "  The  Prophet  of  the 
Great  Smoky  Mountains,"  and  "In  the  Clouds." 
These  have  been  followed  by  many  others  in  rapid 
succession,  so  rapid  as  to  reveal  the  common  frailty 
of  popular  novelists,  over-production  with  consequent 
deterioration  in  quality.  In  "  Where  the  Battle  was 
Fought,"  she  departs ,  from  her  familiar  scenes  to 
describe  the  desolation  left  by  the  Civil  War  around 
her  early  home. 

Thomas  Nelson  Page,  born  in  1853,  educated  at  the 
University. of  Virginia,  and  engaged  for  a  time  with 
the  law,  committed  himself  irrevocably  to  literature  in 


vn]  LITERATURE    IN   THE    SOUTH  345 

1883  with  a  little  volume  of  dialect  poems,  "Befo'  de 
War."     His  success  as  a  story  writer  was  made  the 

next  year  with  "Marse  Chan,"  the  most 

Thomas 

graceful  and  touching  story  of  the  war  yet  Nelson  Page, 
written.  This  story,  "Unc'  Edinburgh  l853~ 
Drowndin,"  "Meh  Lady,"  and  others  collected  in  the 
volume,  "  In  Ole  Virginia,"  are  masterpieces  of  humor 
and  pathos,  and  in  some  respects  quite  as  original  in 
their  portrayal  of  negro  character  as  "  Uncle  Remus." 
He  is  not  less  happy  in  describing  the  "  poor  white  " 
class,  and  "  Elsket,"  "  Red  Rock,"  and  other  recent 
books  give  promise  of  excellence  in  a  wider  field. 

The  love  of  nature  and  a  free,  open-air  life,  tempered 
with  sunshine  and  the  repose  of  broad  landscapes,  came 
to  James  Lane  Allen  as  an  inheritance  from  three 
generations  of  paternal  ancestors,  who  were  james  Lane 
easy-going,  gentleman  farmers  in  the  blue-  Allen>  l8s°- 
grass  region  of  Kentucky.  In  this  land  of  stately 
homes,  fine  flocks  and  herds,  fragrant  clover  meadows, 
and  golden  wheat  fields,  Allen  was  born  in  1850,  and 
out  of  his  minute  knowledge  of  its  pastoral  beauty  and 
social  characteristics  he  has  produced  the  charmingly 
delicate  and  artistic  sketches  and  stories,  "  The  Blue 
Grass  Region  of  Kentucky,"  "  A  Kentucky  Cardinal," 
"  Aftermath,"  "  The  Choir  Invisible,"  and  "  The  Reign 
of  Law."  Two  stories,  "  The  White  Cowl "  arid  "  Sister 
Dolorosa,"  present  with  studied  truthfulness  the  medi 
aeval  spirit  of  the  Trappist  Monastery  and  the  Convent 
of  Loretto.  His  special  literary  features  are  a  devoted 


346  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

attention  to  local  history  and  color,  realism  permeated 
with  poetry,  a  quiet,  reflective  temperament  that  pre 
fers  a  mood' or  spiritual  problem  to  plot  and  action. 
By  grace,  purity,  and  refinement  he  charms  the  reader 
and  entices  his  thought  out  of  the  commonplace  to 
things  higher  and  more  beautiful. 

Class  Reading.  —  Cable's  "Old  Creole  Days"  and  "  Bona- 
venture."  Harris's  "Uncle  Remus"  and  "Free  Joe."  Miss 
Murfree's  "In  the  Tennessee  Mountains"  and  "The  Prophet 
of  the  Great  Smoky  Mountains."  Page's  '-In  Ole  Virginia." 
Allen's  "A  Kentucky  Cardinal." 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Baskervill's  "  Southern  Writers." 
Vedder's  "American  Writers  of  To-day."  Richardson's 
''American  Literature,"  Vol  II,  ch.  12.  Lippincott's  Maga 
zine,  December,  1891. 

Richard  Malcolm  Johnston  (1822-1898)  contributed  much  to 
our  knowledge  of  Southern  types  as  well  as  to  our  literary  delight 
in  his  "Dukesborough  Tales,"  "Old  Mark  Langston,"  "Ogeechee 
Cross-Firings,"  and  other  volumes  of  humorous  tales  descriptive 
of  Georgia  life.  Among  the  first  to  appreciate  the  literary  pos 
sibilities  of  the  negro  character  was  Irwin  Russell  (1853-1879), 
whose  little  volume  of  "Poems"  is  the  only  memorial  of  a  life 

of  brilliant  promise  and  unhappy  end.  Many 
MinorWriters  .  ,.  ,,  c,  ,,  .,,  ,  ,  ,  ,. 

minor  poets  of  the  South  will  be  remembered  for 

single  famous  lyrics,  such  as  James  R.  Randall's 
"Maryland,  My  Maryland"  ;  Theodore  O'Hara's  "Bivouac  of 
the  Dead"  ;  Father  Ryan's  "The  Conquered  Banner  "  ;  Albert 
Pike's  "Dixie";  and  Frank  0.  Ticknor's  "  Virginians  of  the 
Valley."  This  last  writer,  almost  unknown,  was  pronounced 
by  Hayne  to  be  "  one  of  the  truest  and  sweetest  lyric  poets  this 
country  has  yet  produced."  Maurice  Thompson  (1844-1901). 
poet,  essayist,  naturalist,  and  novelist,  was  true  to  his  Southern 
heritage,  as  shown  by  the  atmosphere  and  local  color  of  his 


vn]  LITERATURE   IN   THE   SOUTH 

"  Songs  of  Fair  Weather,"  "  By-ways  and  Bird  Notes,"  "  Sylvan 
Secrets,"  and  other  inspiring  books.  His  last  and  most  popular 
book,  "  Alice  of  Old  Vincennes,"  is  a  stirring  tale  of  the  Revo 
lutionary  period.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  women  were  the 
first  to  recognize  the  literary  opportunity  of  the  South.  The 
success  of  "Christian  Reid"  (Frances  C.  Tiernan),  author  of 
"The  Land  of  the  Sky,"  was  an  encouragement  to  many  others. 
"The  first  work  to  utilize  the  romantic  materials  of  the  war 
without  gross  partisanry,"  says  Page,  was  '•  Sunnybank,"  by 
"Marion  Harland  "  (Mrs.  M.  V.  Terhune),  (1835-  )  who 
has  since  produced  a  long  list  of  popular  books.  Margaret  J. 
Preston's  (1825-1897)  "Beechenbrook"  and  other  poems  contain 
many  strains  that  are  cherished  for  their  elegiac  beauty  and 
tenderness.  Grace  King  (1850-  ),  author  of  "Monsieur 
Motte  "  and  "Balcony  Stories,"  follows  modestly  and  success 
fully  in  the  footsteps  of  Cable  with  her  strong  pictures  of  Creole 
life  in  New  Orleans.  Amelie  Rives  (Princess  Troubetskoy) 
(1863-  )  has  shown  remarkable  literary  possibilities  in  "A 
Brother  to  Dragons,"  "  Herod  and  Mariamne,"  and  other  fiction 
and  verse.  The  perfervid  passion,  dramatic  directness,  and 
staccato  audacity  of  expression  in  her  stories  won  for  a  time  a 
wide  and  sensational  popularity. 

HISTORICAL  BACKGROUND 

Wilson's  "Division  and  Reunion"  (Epochs  of  American  His 
tory).  Burgess's  "Civil  War  and  Reconstruction."  Thomas 
Nelson  Page's  "The  Old  South."  Link's  "Pioneers  of  South 
ern  Literature."  Lanier's  "  Retrospects  and  Prospects "  ("The 
New  South").  Wendell's  "Literary  History  of  America." 
Manly's  "Southern  Literature."  Warner's  "Studies  in  the 
South  and  West."  White's  "  Robert  E.  Lee  and  the  Southern 
Confederacy."  Trent's  "Robert  E.  Lee"  (Beacon  Biogra 
phies).  Miss  Woolson's  "  Rodman  the  Keeper."  Wise's  "End 
of  an  Era." 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE   HISTORIANS 

IT  is  a  common  mistake  to  assume  that  historical 
writing  is  devoid  of  literary  interest,  and  that  there 
fore  in  a  record  of  the  literary  expression  of  a  nation 
it  is  to  be  subordinated,  or  altogether  ignored.  His 
tory  is  a  part  of  literature  when  it  possesses  the  dis 
tinction  of  style.  Macaulay  wrote  with  rhetorical 
brilliancy  and  Carlyle  with  dramatic  intensity,  and 
the  work  of  each  lives  by  virtue  of  an 

Literary  <• 

Quality  of  individual  saliency  of  style;  others  have 
possessed  themselves  of  the  same  facts, 
but  have  failed  to  make  living  history  because  they 
lacked  the  illuminating  power  of  the  imagination  and 
the  artistic  sense  of  literary  form.  To  scientific  accu 
racy  in  the  collection  and  collocation  of  facts  must 
be  added  the  graces  and  amenities  of  art,  in  order 
to  secure  for  a  historical  work  the  permanency  of  a 
classic.  The  great  mass  of  historical  writing  is 
merely  history  in  the  rough,  material  that  needs 
the  final  touch  of  genius  to  convert  it  into  real 
history. 

America  is  fortunate  in  the  possession  of  historians 
of  the  first  rank,  and  it  is  significant  that  each  one  of 

348 


CHAP,  vin]  THE   HISTORIANS  349 

the  leaders  of  our  historical  school  began  his  career 
under  the  influence  of  distinctly  literary  predilections. 
Bancroft  first  appeared  before  the  public  with  a  vol 
ume  of  poems;  the  first  books  of  Motley  Classic 
and  Hildreth  were  novels ;  among  Park-  American 
man's  first  publications  was  a  novel,  and 
his  early  ambition  was  to  write  poetry ;  and  Prescott's 
original  inclination  was  toward  pure  literature.  While 
thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  scientific  re 
search,  these  men  had  the  superior  sense,  so  often 
wanting  in  the  scientific  consciousness,  to  recognize 
the  necessity  of  the  imaginative  and  artistic  elements 
in  any  written  product  that  is  to  secure  a  broad 
and  permanent  interest ;  hence  three,  at  least,  of 
these  historians  produced  narratives  that  combine  a 
painstaking  devotion  to  fact  with  the  vivid  coloring  of 
fiction.  Such  histories  as  Prescott's  "Conquest  of 
Mexico"  and  Motley's  "Bise  of  the  Dutch  Republic" 
are  emphatically  literary  classics. 

The  historical  product  of  the  colonial  period  was 
naturally  crude  in  form  and  largely  local,  personal, 
or  ecclesiastical  in  origin.     Strong-souled  leaders  of  the 
early  colonists,  like  Bradford  and  Winthrop,  with  a 
prophetic  confidence  in  the  high  destiny  of   Historyintne 
their  doings,  wrote  out  as  best  they  could,   Colonial 
in  the  midst  of  their  conquest  of  the  wilder 
ness,   the   records  of  their  struggles  in  the  form  of 
"diaries"    or    "journals."      But    these    quaint    and 
homely  narratives,  possessing  a  peculiar  interest  and 


350  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

value  in  the  fact  of  their  personal  character,  have 
furnished  rich  materials  for  the  systematic  historian. 
No  nation  is  so  fortunate  as  America  in  the  fullness 
of  the  records  of  its  beginnings.  As  colonial  isolation 
disappeared  and  the  dawn  of  a  new  nation  began  to 
rise  from  the  chaos  of  the  Revolution,  writers  at 
tempted  to  present  a  more  comprehensive  view  of 
American  achievements,  or,  impelled  by  local  pride, 
chronicled  the  part  played  by  particular  colonies  in 
the  foundation-building  of  the  nation. 

Thomas  Hutchinson,  the  last  colonial  governor  of 
Massachusetts,  a  loyal  New  Englander  by  birth  and 
lifelong  interest,  though  a  Royalist  in  political  con 
victions,  wrote  with  laborious  zeal  his  "  History  of  the 
Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,"  which  Richardson 
regards  as  a  "  praiseworthy  production,  even  from  a 
literary  point  of  view."  Hannah  Adams,  the  first 
professional  literary  woman  in  America,  wrote  a 
"History  of  New  England,"  and  a  broader  and  more 
Early  interesting  work  was  produced  by  Abiel 

Historians  Holmes,  father  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes, 
in  his  "American  Annals,  or  Chronological  History 
of  America  from  its  Discovery  in  MCCCCXCII  to 
MDCCCVI."  Jeremy  Belknap's  accurate  and  enter 
taining  "History  of  New  Hampshire"  (1784)  led 
Bryant  to  say  that  its  author  was  "  the  first  to  make 
American  history  attractive  "  ;  and  with  similar  patri 
otic  pride  David  Ramsay  was  writing  in  the  remote 
South  his  "History  of  the  American  Revolution" 


vin]  THE   HISTORIANS  351 

(1789),  the  «  History  of  South  Carolina,"  and  a  «  Life 
of  Washington,"  works  that  embodied  the  results  of 
a  wide  personal  acquaintance  with  the  leading  men 
and  events  of  the  period. 

The  new  sense  of  union  and  nationality  that  fol 
lowed  the  final  settlement  of  war  and  the  establishing 
of  the  constitution,  and  the  rapid  expansion  of  the 
nation   in   territory  and   population,  were   influences 
strongly  affecting  the  nascent  genius  of  the  time.     All 
literature  felt  the  impulse  of  the  new  national  life. 
Scholars  were  now  attracted  into  the  field 
of  national  history,  as  its   scope  became   ning0f 
enlarged  with  the  increasing  significance  National 
of  the  past  and  the  alluring  promises  of 
the  future  of  the  young  republic.     Early  in  the  cen 
tury  Bancroft  chose  his  life  work,  and  entered  with 
patriotic  enthusiasm  upon  his  extensive  researches  for 
the  "  History  of  the  United  States  "  ;  and  soon  also  his 
distingiiished  competitors  were  selecting  great  Ameri 
can  themes,  or  themes   closely   related    to    America. 
An  American  school  of  historians  arose,  the  founder 
of  which  was  Jared  Sparks. 

The  appointment  of  Sparks  in  1839  to  a  professor 
ship  of  "  Ancient  and  Modern  History  "  in  Harvard 
College  "marks  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  American 
scholarship.  It  was  not  only  the  first  recognition  of 
historical  science  by  an  American  college  as  worthy 
of  a  distinct  professional  chair,  but,  in  view  of  the 
well-known  pursuits  of  the  appointee,  it  was  also  the 


352  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

first  academic  encouragement  of  American  history  and 
of  original  historical  research  in  the  American  field." l 
jared  Sparks,  Sparks  was  graduated  from  Harvard  in 
1789-1866  1815,  became  a  Unitarian  minister,  and 
preached  for  a  time  in  Baltimore,  edited  the  North 
American  Review  for  seven  years  from  1824,  was  pro 
fessor  of  history  at  Harvard  from  1839  to  1849,  and 
then  was  made  president  of  the  college.  In  1832  he 
published  the  "  Life  of  Gouverneur  Morris,"  and  soon 
after  began  to  appear  the  first  of  his  great  undertak 
ings,  the  "  Life  and  Writings  of  George  Washington," 
in  which  he  illustrated  historical  methods  hitherto 
quite  unknown  in  America.  He  made  extensive 
searches  for  materials,  secured  the  use  of  private 
family  papers,  examined  public  records,  visited 
Europe,  and  copied  valuable  documents  in  the  ar 
chives  of  England  and  France.  The  result  was,  for 
the  time,  a  worthy  tribute  to  the  greatest  Ameri 
can.  With  the  same  painstaking  zeal  he  edited  the 
"  Works  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  with  a  Life  of  the 
Author,"  and  the  extensive  "Library  of  American 
Biography,"  the  precursor  of  modern  collections  like 
the  "American  Statesmen"  and  "American  Men  of 
Letters." 

The  true  literary  gift  and  a  well-ordered  critical 
judgment  were  denied  to  Sparks,  and  his  own  com 
position,  therefore,  is  the  least  valuable  part  of  his 

1  Herbert  Adams's  "  Life  and  Writings  of  Jared  Sparks,"  Vol.  II, 
p.  369, 


vin]  THE   HISTORIANS  353 

works ;  but  as  an  enthusiastic  collector  and  editor  he 
rendered  an  inestimable  service.     After  his  example 
of  industry   the   materials    for   American   value  of 
history  were  secure  and  a  proper  method  hisw°rk 
of  dealing  with  them  was  insured.     His  work,  says 
his  biographer,  was  that  of  "  a  pathfinder  in  the  vast 
wilderness   of   American   history.      He   first   opened 
roads  along  which  modern  students  are  now  easily 
and   swiftly   passing,   too    often   without   a  grateful 
thought  for  the  original  explorer." 

With  a  few  notable  exceptions,  especially  the  monu 
mental  work  of  Gibbon  in  England,  history  was  for 
merly  written  with  a  careless  regard  for  facts  and  with 
no  adequate  or  systematic  examination  of  the  original 
sources.  Writers  aimed  to  make  their  narratives 
interesting  by  depicting  the  romantic  and  heroic 
elements  of  history,  the  deeds  of  kings  and  con 
querors,  the  pomp  and  pageantry  of  courts,  and  the 
bloody  horrors  of  battlefields.  This  has  been  well 
called  the  "  drum  and  trumpet "  style  of  history. 
Little  attention  was  given  to  the  true  ethical  sig 
nificance  of  events,  to  the  analysis  of  character,  to  the 
operation  of  cause  and  effect,  or  to  the  background  of 
great  events  found  in  the  life  of  the  common  people. 
A  new  historical  method,  evolved  under  ANew 
the  combined  influence  of  science  and  de-  Historical 
mocracy,  has  changed  all  this.  The  modern 
historian  aims  at  breadth  and  accuracy  of  details,  at 
the  collocation  and  logical  interpretation  of  vast  aggre- 

2A 


354  AMERICAN    LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

gations  of  facts,  gathered,  often,  at  the  cost  of  prodig 
ious  personal  labor ;  he  makes  the  life  of  a  common 
laborer  as  conspicuous  as  that  of  a  lord,  and  cele 
brates  the  achievements  of  peace  as  zealously  as  those 
of  war,  presenting  all  phases  of  national  life  and 
character  with  impartial  completeness.  An  excel 
lent  example  of  the  new  type  of  history  is  Green's 
"  History  of  the  English  People,"  the  title  of  which 
indicates  the  change  of  purpose  and  method.  It  is 
particularly  creditable  to  American  scholarship  and 
letters  that  our  first  and  greatest  historians,  Ban 
croft,  Prescott,  Motley,  and  Parkman,  while  illustrat 
ing  some  of  the  qualities  of  the  heroic  type  of  history, 
from  the  beginning  worked  essentially  in  the  spirit 
of  the  modern  scientific  method. 

GEORGE   BANCROFT 
1800-1891 

Although  Jared  Sparks  is  deservedly  regarded  as 
the  founder  of  our  historical  school,  it  was  George 
Bancroft  who  made  the  first  contribution  to  the  bril 
liant  series  of  historical  compositions  now  accepted  as 
our  standard  masterpieces.  Bancroft  was  one  of  thir 
teen  children,  whose  father,  the  Rev.  Aaron  Bancroft, 
fought  at  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill,  and  wrote  a 
"  Life  of  Washington "  that  was  not  an  unworthy 
rival  of  the  more  famous  biography  by  Marshall.  The 
son  George  graduated  from  Harvard  at  seventeen,  by 


vin]  THE   HISTORIANS  355 

request  of  the  college  continued  his  studies  at  Got- 
tingen,  and  was  one  of  the  earliest  in  America  to  obtain 
a  German  university  degree.  While  abroad  he  profited 

by  the  experience,  then  rare  to  an  Ameri- 
J  Education ; 

can,  of  meeting  the  great  men  of  Europe,  Teaching; 
as   Goethe,  the  Humboldts,  Cousin,  Lord 
Byron,  Bunsen,  and  Niebiihr.     After  a  year  spent  at 
Harvard  as  tutor  in  Greek,  he  joined  with  J.  G.  Cogs 
well   in   founding  the  famous  "Bound  Hill"  school 
for  boys  at  Northampton.      In  the  same  year,  1823, 
he  published  a  thin  volume  of  "Poems,"  nearly  all 
European  in   theme,  and   reflecting   the  influence  of 
continental  travel  and  of  the  reigning  poets  of  the 
period. 

Before  he  abandoned  the  experiment  at  Eound  Hill, 
Bancroft  had  begun  his  life  task.  In  1834  the  first 
volume  of  the  "History  of  the  United  States"  ap 
peared,  and  during  a  period  of  fifty  years  the  labor 
upon  this  work  was  continued,  the  final  revised  edition 
appearing  in  1884.  Seldom  has  so  long  a  life  of 
scholarly  industry  been  given  to  a  single  task  "like  this. 

He  gathered  a  working  library  of  twelve 

A  Life  Work 

thousand  volumes,  with  five  hundred  vol 
umes  of  original  and  copied  documents.  The  official 
positions  which  he  held  facilitated  his  studies  by 
affording  special  privileges  and  opportunities  for  ex 
amining  government  records.  Under  President  Polk, 
he  served  as  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  to  him  is  due 
the  founding  of  the  Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis.  He 


356  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

was  sent  as  minister  both  to  England  and  to  Germany. 
In  his  public  offices  he  served  his  country  honorably 
Public  and  well,  but  the  controlling  motive  of 

Service  his  Jjfe  was  fae  makiug  an(}  perfecting  of 

his  History.  At  the  outset  of  this  great  literary  under 
taking  he  framed  for  himself  the  rigid  rule,  "  to  secure 
perfect  accuracy  in  the  relation  of  facts,  even  to  their 
details  and  their  coloring,  and  to  keep  truth  clear  from 
the  clouds,  however  brilliant,  of  conjecture  and  tradi 
tion."  Adherence  to  this  rule  made  the  work,  for  the 
period  it  covers,  a  standard  authority. 

The  History,  in  twelve  large  volumes,  extends  from 
the  discovery  of  America  to  the  founding  of  the  new 
government  after  the  Revolution.  The  two  final 
volumes  are  devoted  to  the  "Formation  of  the  Con 
stitution  " ;  seven  volumes  are  given  to  the  Revolution, 
in  the  treatment  of  which  the  author's  fine  talent  for 
the  description  of  military  and  diplomatic  events  is 
especially  prominent.  The  merits  of  this  great  work 
Merits  of  the  are  many  and  substantial,  the  broad  scope 
History  an(^  well-defined  conception  of  the  theme, 

the  strong  and  stirring  qualities  of  the  style  arising 
from  the  author's  sustained  enthusiasm  for  his  subject, 
the  vast  stores  of  information  skillfully  condensed 
into  a  clear  and  consecutive  narrative.  "One  must 
follow  him.  minutely,"  says  Higginson,  "through  the 
war  for  independence  to  appreciate  in  full  the  consum 
mate  grasp  of  a  mind  that  can  deploy  military  events 
in  a  narrative  as  a  general  deploys  brigades  in  a  field. 


VIH]  THE   HISTORIANS  357 

Add  to  this  the  capacity  for  occasional  maxims  to 
the  highest  degree  profound  and  lucid,  in  the  way 
of  political  philosophy,  and  you  certainly  combine 
in  one  man  some  of  the  greatest  qualities  of  the 
historian." 

But  the  defects  of  Bancroft  are  too  prominent  to 
be  overlooked.  He  is  too  patriotic  to  be  truly  critical, 
he  is  too  confident  of  perfection  in  all  things  demo 
cratic  and  American ;  he  digresses  too  much,  drawing 
the  reader  aside  to  listen  to  commonplace  reflections 
in  morals  and  philosophy;  he  makes  unwarrantable 
and  unscientific  use  of  authorities  in  omit-  Defects  of 
ting  all  quotation  marks ;  his  style  is  often  the  History 
pompous  and  inflated,  especially  in  the  early  volumes, 
revealing  a  conscious  effort  to  reach  a  dignity  and  state- 
liness  befitting  his  grand  theme.  His  rhetoric,  however, 
as  well  as  other  excesses,  was  much  chastened  by  rigor 
ous  revision  in  the  final  edition,  his  taste  having  be 
come  severer  with  age.  And  yet,  with  all  its  sins 
upon  it,  the  earlier  edition  of  the  History  is  to  be  pre 
ferred,  for  the  blooming  freshness  and  exuberance  of 
his  Americanism  and  profound  faith  in  democracy 
give  to  the  text  a  flavor  of  unrestrained  sincerity  that 
one  cannot  afford  to  exchange  for  the  proprieties  of  a 
more  modest  style.  Moreover,  one  easily  condones 
the  faults  of  a  work  that  in  its  final  impression  must 
always  be  imposing  and  monumental. 


358 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE 


[CHAP. 


WILLIAM    HICKLING   PRESCOTT 
1796-1859 

Three  years  after  the  appearance  of  Bancroft's  first 
volume,  Prescott's  "  History  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa 
bella  "  was  pub 
lished.  This  fasci 
nating  period  of 
history  had  been 
neglected  by  Euro 
pean  historians,  and 
it  was  left  for  an 
American  to  give  to 
the  world  the  first 
comprehensive  view 
of  the  reign  of  those 
two  illustrious  sov 
ereigns,  whose 
names  are  insepa 
rably  linked  with 
the  beginnings  of 
American  history. 
William  Hickling  Prescott  was  born  in  Salem,  Mass., 
in  1796.  His  grandfather  was  the  Colonel  Prescott  of 
Early  Bunker  Hill  renown,  and  his  father  was  a 

Misfortune  lawyer,  who,  in  Webster's  opinion,  stood  at 
the  head  of  the  Massachusetts  bar  "  for  legal  learning 
and  attainments."  While  in  college  at  Harvard,  an 
accident,  caused  by  the  wanton  carelessness  of  a  class- 


William  Hickling  Prescott 


vin]  THE   HISTORIANS  359 

mate,  deprived  him  forever  of  the  sight  of  one  eye. 
Soon  after  graduation  the  other  eye  was  seriously 
affected,  and  he  was  condemned  for  life  to  partial 
blindness,  with  the  ever-present  danger  of  a  total  loss 
of  sight.  This  cruel  misfortune  determined  his  life- 
work.  Compelled  to  abandon  his  original  purpose  of 
becoming  a  lawyer,  he  decided  after  long  deliberation 
to  devote  himself  to  literary  work,  notwithstanding 
the  almost  insurmountable  difficulties  certain  to  be 
encountered.  Fortunately  an  ample  income  afforded 
him  every  advantage  for  testing  the  practicability  of 
his  choice. 

There  are  in  the  history  of  letters  few  parallels  to 
the  heroic  patience  and  resolution  illustrated  in  the 
careers  of  our  two  most  attractive  historians,  Prescott 
and  Parkman,  and  the  lesson  of  their  lives  is  perhaps 
as  valuable  as  their  books.  Such  devoted  careers  are 
to  be  counted  among  the  martyrdoms  of  A  Heroic 
literature.  During  all  the  years  of  his  Life 
study  and  writing,  Prescott  was  unable  to  use  his 
eyesight  in  reading  for  more  than  two  or  three  hours 
a  day  —  sometimes  for  only  thirty -five  minutes  a  day, 
dividing  this  time  into  five-minute  periods,  separated 
by  intervals  of  a  half-hour,  and  often  for  months  he 
could  not  look  at  a  book.  Nearly  everything  was  read 
aloud  to  him  by  a  secretary.  He  worked  in  a  dark 
ened  room,  and  wrote  with  a  noctograph,  an  instrument 
for  guiding  the  hand  with  an  ivory  stylus  over  car 
bonized  paper.  In  order  that,  by  good  health,  he 


360  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAF. 

might  preserve  the  little  sight  remaining,  he  exacted 
of  himself  the  strictest  observance  of  self-imposed 
laws  in  respect  to  food,  clothing,  exercise,  even  the 
minutest  matters  of  daily  life.  Yet  throughout  this 
life  of  darkness  and  self-denial,  he  maintained  a  cheer 
ful  and  radiant  temperament,  charming  and  winning, 
by  his  beautiful  character,  the  hearts  of  all  who  were 
privileged  to  know  him. 

On  January  19,  1826,  he  recorded  in  his  journal  the 
decision  to  write  upon  the  "  Reign  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella."  Twenty  years  afterward  he  wrote  against 
this  passage,  "A  fortunate  choice."  In  a  letter  to  a 
friend,  quoting  Dr.  Johnson's  saying  in  his  life  of 
Milton,  "that  no  man  can  compile  a  history  who  is 
blind,"  he  said  in  respect  to  his  decision :  "  Although 
Toilsome  I  should  lose  the  use  of  my  vision  alto- 
Preparations  gether,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  if  my  ears 
are  spared  me,  I  will  disprove  the  assertion,  and  my 
chronicle,  whatever  other  demerits  it  may  have,  shall 
not  be  wanting  in  accuracy  and  research."  He  had 
already  spent  ten  years  in  the  study  of  general  litera 
ture  and  modern  languages,  merely  as  a  preparation 
for  literary  work,  and  the  next  ten  years  were  given 
to  this  first  Spanish  theme.  A  library  of  material 
was  gathered,  and  with  painful  toil  he  set  to  work  to 
master  it.  At  first  he  was  obliged  to  employ  a  reader 
who  knew  not  a  word  of  Spanish.  Of  this  experience 
he  once  said :  "  I  cannot  even  now  call  to  mind  with 
out  a  smile  the  tedious  hours  in  which,  seated  under 


vm]  THE   HISTORIANS  361 

some  old  trees  in  my  country  residence,  we  pursued 
our  slow  and  melancholy  way  over  pages  which  af 
forded  no  glimmering  of  light  to  him,  and  from  which 
the  light  came  dimly  struggling  to  me  through  a  half 
intelligible  vocabulary." 

Three  years  and  a  half  were  given  to  reading  before 
the  writing  was  begun,  and  three  months  were  spent 
in  making  notes  for  the  first  chapter.  To  the  work  of 
revising  and  condensing  he  gave  fully  two  years.  At 
length,  with  many  misgivings,  he  gave  his  history  to 

the  public,  and  its  success  was  immediate 

Publication 
and  astonishing,  not  only  at  home  but  even   Of  "Ferdi- 

in   England,  where  the  opinion    still  pre-  nandand 

Isabella  " 

vailed  that  it  was  impossible  for  a  great 
book  to  be  produced  in  America.  "A  success  so 
brilliant,"  says  Ticknor,  "had  never  before  been 
reached  in  so  short  a  time  by  any  work  of  equal  size 
and  gravity  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic."  Daniel 
Webster  spoke  of  the  author  as  "  a  comet  which  had 
suddenly  blazed  out  upon  the  world  in  full  splendor." 
Prescott  was  led  naturally  by  his  Spanish  studies  to 
his  next  two  themes,  the  first  of  which,  the  "  Conquest 
of  Mexico,"  was  graciously  yielded  to  him  by  Wash 
ington  Irving,  his  only  rival  in  the  Spanish  field. 

After  six  years  of  the  same  toilsome  and 

Other  Works 

scrupulous   industry  this  work  was    pub 
lished,  and  was  followed,  in  1847,  by  the  "  Conquest 
of   Peru."     His  final  and  greatest   undertaking,    the 
"History  of    Philip   II,"    for   which   he   gathered   a 


362  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

magnificent  collection  of  books  and  manuscripts,  was 
left  unfinished  at  his  death  in  1859. 

The  severest  charge  against  Prescott's  histories  is 
that  they  are  too  interesting  to  be  true.  In  these 
days  of  scientific  literalism,  it  is  perhaps  natural  to 
regard  with  suspicion  a  historian  who  is  read  as  freely 
as  the  standard  novelists.  But  history  was  never 
Historical  written  with  a  more  conscientious  respect 
Accuracy  for  facts.  Even  in  his  most  highly  colored 
passages,  Prescott  can  never,  like  Macaulay,  be  con- 
victed  of  straining  the  truth  for  the  sake  of  the 
rhetoric.  He  may  have  overestimated  the  ability  of 
the  early  chroniclers  to  describe  facts  without  pervert 
ing  them  with  romantic  coloring ;  but  if  he  elevated 
his  Aztecs  and  Peruvians  to  a  plain  of  civilization  not 
easily  reconcilable  with  inherent  probability  or  with 
the  results  of  archaeological  research,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  he  did  so  upon  the  authority  of  those 
who  had  seen  what  they  described. 

The  perennial  interest  of  these  histories  is  due  to 
the  peculiar  attractiveness  of  the  subjects  and  of  the 
style.  The  themes  were  happily  chosen  from  the  most 
glorious  period  of  Spanish  history,  when  the  strange 
mingling  of  religious  devotion  with  the  love  of  con 
quest  and  romantic  adventure  gave  to  ordinary  historic 
facts  a  tinge  of  the  marvelous,  investing  such  exploits 
as  that  of  Cortez  with  what  Irving  called  a  "  magnifi 
cent  mirage."  To  style  Prescott  gave  deliberate  and 
careful  attention,  elaborating  an  artistic  expression 


vii i]  THE    HISTORIANS  363 

that  has  been  accepted  as  a  standard  of  easy  elegance 
and  vivid  picturesqueness.  His  narrative  flows  smooth 
and  clear,  like  a  deep  stream  in  which  ob-  Prescotf  s 
jects  are  mirrored  in  strong  outline.  His  style 
figures  are  definite,  concrete,  objective ;  he  loves  color 
and  action,  the  open  field  of  war  and  adventure  rather 
than  the  philosophy  of  cause  and  consequence.  There 
is,  too,  a  glow  in  his  writing,  rich  and  strong  as  the 
tropical  sunlight  of  the  regions  he  describes.  The 
descriptions  in  "  Ferdinand  and  Isabella "  are  at 
times  overwrought  in  style,  approaching  dangerously 
near  to  "fine  writing."  But  this  overfastidious  and 
too  conscious  attention  to  form  was  corrected  in  the 
"  Conquest  of  Mexico  "  and  the  "  Conquest  of  Peru." 
Here  he  was  less  restrained  by  the  sense  of  classic 
propriety  and  less  timid  in  the  use  of  simple,  idiomatic 
and  salient  phrases.  These  works,  moreover,  are  like 
prose  poems  in  the  unity  of  subject,  harmony  of 
details,  and  artistic  management  of  all  the  parts,  con 
stituting  coherent  and  finished  works  of  art.  Whatever 
deduction  may  possibly  be  made  from  Prescott's  work 
as  history,  through  the  more  minute  searchings  of  a 
later  scientific  method,  its  life  is  assured  by  its  beauty 
and  power  as  literature. 

Reading  and  Discussion.  —  The  Conquest  of  Mexico,  or  The 
Conquest  of  Peru. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Ticknor's  "Life  of  William 
Hickling  Prescott."  Bolton's  "Famous  American  Authors." 
Richardson's  "American  Literature,"  Vol.  I.  Whipple's  "  Es- 


364  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

says  and  Reviews,"  Vol.  II.  Carpenter's  "American  Prose." 
Library  of  the  World's  Best  Literature.  Everett's  "Orations 
and  Speeches,"  Vol.  IV. 

JOHN   LOTHROP   MOTLEY 
1814-1877 

"  The  greatest,  on  the  whole,  of  American  historians 
was  John  Lothrop  Motley,"  says  Professor  Beers,  a 
judgment  that  seems  to  be  justified  by  the  monu 
mental  character  of  the  "  History  of  the  Dutch  Repub 
lic,"  a  work  possessing  the  same  marks  of  high  distinc 
tion  that  characterize  the  works  of  Froude,  Freeman, 
Macaulay  and  Carlyle.  Motley  was  born  in  a  suburb 
of  Boston,  April  15, 1814.  Among  his  early  playmates 

were  Boston's   famous  wit,  Thomas   Gold 
Boyhood 

Appleton,    and   the   silver-tongued   orator, 

Wendell  Phillips;  with  these  companions  he  enacted 
impromptu  dramas,  and  before  he  was  eleven  aston 
ished  them  with  the  first  chapters  of  a  novel.  He 
was  a  great  reader,  learned  easily,  especially  lan 
guages,  and  was  widely  noted  for  his  many  gifts 
and  striking  personal  beauty.  At  ten  he  went  to  the 
celebrated  "Sound  Hill"  school  at  Northampton, 
where  he  was  taught  German  by  George  Bancroft, 
with  whom  he  was  unconsciously  preparing  to  divide 
the  earliest  honors  of  historical  scholarship  in  America. 
At  thirteen  Motley  entered  Harvard,  bearing  with 
him  the  somewhat  unfortunate  reputation  of  being  a 
remarkable  scholar.  He  studied  in  a  wayward  manner, 


vni]  THE    HISTORIANS  365 

being   once  "  rusticated,"  read   extensively  after   the 
bent  of  his  own  inclinations,  and  wrote  juvenile  poems, 
plays,  and  essays  in  abundance.    After  graduation  two 
years   were   spent   at   the   universities    of 
Berlin   and    Gottingen,  where   he   formed 
an  intimate  friendship  with  the  young  Bismarck,  the 
future   "iron  chancellor"  of    Germany,  a  friendship 
that  continued  through  life. 

Returning  from  Germany  he  studied  law  for  a  time, 
but  with  no  seriousness  and  no  professional  results.  In 
1837  he  married,  and  two  years  later  published  his  first 
novel,  "  Morton's  Hope,"  a  Qrude,  ill-formed  expression 
of  youthful  effusiveness,  interesting,  how-  "Morton's 
ever,  for  its  autobiographic  revelations  ;  for  H°Pe  " 
in  the*  hero  he  was  clearly  drawing  a  portrait  of  him 
self.  "  I  was  always  a  huge  reader,"  says  the  hero ; 
"  my  mind  was  essentially  craving  and  insatiable.  Its 
appetite  was  enormous,  and  it  devoured  too  greedily  for 
health."  Again  says  the  hero:  "I  was  ever  at  my 
studies,  and  could  hardly  be  prevailed  upon  to  allot  a 
moment  to  exercise  and  recreation.  I  breakfasted  with 
a  pen  behind  my  ear,  and  dined  in  company  with  a 
folio  bigger  than  the  table." 

In  1841  he  began  his  disappointing  diplomatic  career 
with  the  position  of  Secretary  to  the  United  States 
Legation    in    Russia,   which   he   resigned  Diplomatic 
after  a  few  months'  residence  at  St.  Peters-  Experience 
burg.     He  was  sent  by  President  Lincoln  as  minister 
to  Austria  and  by  President  Grant  as  minister  to  Eng- 


366  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

land ;  from  both  of  these  positions  he  withdrew  under 
circumstances  painful  to  himself  and  discreditable 
to  the  officials  of  the  State  Department  at  Washing 
ton.  His  brilliant  social  qualities  and  literary  reputa 
tion  won  for  him  a  distinguished  circle  of  friends  in 
every  European  capital  where  he  resided ;  and  Ameri 
can  literature  is  honored  by  the  inclusion  of  his  name 
with  the  names  of  Irving,  Bancroft,  Lowell,  Haw 
thorne,  and  Taylor,  who  have  added  to  the  fame  of 
scholarship  and  letters  the  distinction  of  officially  rep 
resenting  and  introducing  the  culture  of  the  young 
democracy  to  the  old  aristocracy  of  Europe. 

For  many  years  Motley  studied  in  a  desultory  way, 
lacking  the  spur  of  necessity  to  induce  concentrated 
and  productive  effort.  But  underneath  the  apparent 
aimlessness  was  a  strong  literary  disposition  and  a 
taste  for  historical  study  by  which  he  was  being  slowly 
guided  to  his  great  work.  He  published  a  historical 
essay  of  much  merit  on  "  Peter  the  Great,"  and  braved 
criticism  with  a  second  novel,  "  Merry  Mount."  This 
was  an  improvement  upon  "  Morton's  Hope "  and  a 
fairly  well-told  story,  upon  a  background  of  colonial 
history,  that  still  has  an  interest  for  readers  in  search 
of  local  color  in  early  New  England.  Finally  his 
Choosing  a  generous  nature  and  intense  love  of  liberty 
Theme  an(^  of  f  ree  institutions  led  him  to  his  great 

theme.  He  had  studied  the  struggle  of  the  Puritans 
for  religious  freedom  and  its  broader  effects  in  the 
American  Revolution,  and  he  found  a  striking  parallel 


VIH]  THE    HISTORIANS  367 

in  the  struggle  of  the  Netherlands  against  the  tyranny 
of  Spain.  Moreover,  while  working  in  this  field  he 
would  be  tracing  the  principles  of  Americanism  back 
to  their  original  sources,  a  task  to  which  his  ardent 
patriotism  strongly  inclined  him.  "I  had  not,"  he  said, 
"  first  made  up  my  mind  to  write  a  history,  and  then  cast 
about  to  take  up  a  subject.  My  subject  had  taken  me 
up,  drawn  me  on,  and  absorbed  me  into  itself.  It  was 
necessary  for  me,  it  seemed,  to  write  the  book  I  had 
been  thinking  much  of,  even  if  it  were  destined  to  fall 
dead  from  the  press."  Naturally  bitter  was  his  disap 
pointment  upon  hearing  that  Prescott  was  writing  a 
history  of  Philip  II  that  would  necessarily  include  his 
field.  He  visited  Prescott  and  offered  to  abandon  the 
subject,  but  the  elder  historian  warmly  encouraged  his 
plan,  offering  him  the  use  of  his  valuable  collections, 
and  in  the  preface  to  his  work  generously  called  public 
attention  to  the  importance  of  the  forthcoming  work 
of  the  younger  author. 

Motley  pursued  his  subject  with  unlimited  energy 
and  enthusiasm,  spending  several  years  of  minute  and 
exacting  labor  in  the  libraries  and  state  archives  of 
Europe  in  search  of  his  material.     For  he  had  deter 
mined  to  base  his  writing  entirely  upon  "original  con 
temporary  documents."     The   work  when  completed 
was  to  be  called  "  The  Eighty  Years'  War  The  Great 
for  Liberty,"  divided  into  three  parts,  "  The   History 
Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,"  "The  History  of  the 
United  Netherlands,"  and  "  The  History  of  the  Thirty 


368  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Years'  War,"  a  grand  historical  trilogy,  describing 
a  series  of  events  rilled  with  dramatic  and  thrilling 
interest,  the  climax  of  which  was  the  turning-point  of 
modern  civilization.  It  was  a  magnificent  theme,  and 
Motley's  treatment  proved  worthy  of  the  theme.  The 
first  part  appeared  in  1856,  and  met  with  immediate 
success  both  in  Europe  and  in  America,  being  trans 
lated  at  once  into  Dutch,  German,  French,  and  Rus 
sian.  Four  years  later  the  first  volumes  of  the 
"  United  Netherlands  "  increased  the  fame  and  popu 
larity  already  achieved.  The  "  Life  of  John  of  Barne- 
veld,"  intended  as  a  kind  of  interlude  between  the 
final  acts  of  the  "  Eighty  Years'  Tragedy,"  proved  to 
be  his  last  work.  From  the  shock  of  his  wife's  death 
in  1874  he  never  fully  recovered,  and  three  years  later 
he  died,  leaving  the  last  act  of  the  splendid  trilogy 
unwritten. 

Few  writers  have  succeeded  in  making  history  as 
interesting  as  it  is  in  these  volumes  of  Motley.  To 
say  that  the  "Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic"  is  as 
fascinating  as  a  novel  is  not  an  exaggeration.  He 
Motley's  made  the  story  of  Holland,  says  Bryant, 
style  « as  interesting  as  that  of  Athens  and 

Sparta."  The  narrative  is  clear,  strong,  and  pictur 
esque,  enlivened  frequently  with  gentle  humor  and 
satire,  revealing  everywhere  the  earnest,  sympathetic 
heart  of  the  author.  '  The  description  is  "  so  brilliant, 
so  full  of  life  and  color,  that  it  seems  to  have  caught 
something  from  the  canvases  of  Rubens  and  Rem- 


vm]  THE    HISTORIANS  369 

brandt."  Indeed,  the  chief  charm  arises  from  the 
author's  warmth  of  feeling  for  his  subject.  His  sym 
pathy  with  the  Dutch  Protestants  may  perhaps  have 
led  him  to  be  too  severe  in  his  judgments  of  their 
Catholic  enemies,  but  even  in  his  prejudices  he  kept 
a  close  hold  upon  facts.  Dramatic  intensity  is  united 
with  scientific  scholarship  and  masterly  analysis.  In 
the  painting  of  great  historical  portraits,  such  as  those 
of  William  the  Silent,  Philip,  Queen  Elizabeth,  and 
Henry  of  Navarre,  he  rivals  Macaulay. 

Of  the  influence  of  personal  character  upon  his 
work  Whipple  writes :  "  Those  who  knew  him  in 
timately  read  his  works  with  the  same  delight  that 
they  listened  to  his  conversation,  when  some  great 
question  of  justice  or  freedom  which  had  touched  his 
heart  stimulated  all  the  faculties  and  evoked  all 
the  acquirements  of  his  fertile  and  richly 
stored  intellect,  and  when  he  poured  forth  Personal 
his  eloquence  in  a  torrent  of  speech,  every  arac  er 
word  of  which  was  alive  with  a  generous  ardor  for 
truth  and  right,  and  a  noble  disdain  for  everything 
false,  mean,  base,  and  cruel.  As  the  historian  of 
liberty  in  its  early  struggles  with  political  and  eccle 
siastical  despotism,  every  quality  of  his  large  and 
opulent  nature  found  frank  expression  in  his  books. 
The  reader  of  his  works  is  therefore  not  only  enriched 
by  the  new  facts  and  striking  thoughts  he  communi 
cates,  but  by  the  direct  communication  of  the  author's 
soul  to  his  own.  That  soul  was  the  soul  of  a  singu- 

2B 


370  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

larly  noble,  sincere,  honorable,  and  intrepid  gentle 
man,  who  felt  the  mere  imputation  of  a  stain  as  a 
wound ;  and  to  the  young  men  of  the  country  intimacy 
with  such  a  spirit  through  his  writings  cannot  but 
exert  a  healthy  stimulus  on  all  that  is  best  both  in 
their  exertions  and  their  aspirations." 

Reading  and  Discussion.  —  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Holmes' s  "  Life  of  John  Lothrop 
Motley."  •'  Correspondence,"  edited  by  G.  W.  Curtis.  Whip- 
pie's  "  Recollections  of  Eminent  Men."  Carpenter's  "Ameri 
can  Prose."  Richardson's  li  American  Literature." 


FRANCIS   PARKMAN 
1823-1893 

Massachusetts  has  been  the  illustrious  mother  of 
American  historians,  and  Harvard  College  their  intel 
lectual  birthplace.  Of  these  distinguished  sons  the 
one  commanding  the  greatest  present  fame  and  popu 
larity  is  probably  Francis  Parkman.  He  was  born  in 
Boston  in  1823,  and  graduated  from  Harvard  in  1844. 
While  in  college  he  caught  something  of  the  en 
thusiasm  of  Jared  Sparks  for  historic  research,  and 
before  his  junior  year  had  substantially  determined 
A  Devoted  the  great  undertaking  that  engaged  hence- 
Life  forth  his  mental  energies  for  fifty  years. 

His  life,  like  Prescott's,  was  one  of  marvelous  struggle 
and  endurance  in  the  pursuit  of  his  cherished  purpose. 
A  weakness  of  the  eyes,  complicated  by  a  painful 


YIII]  THE    HISTORIANS  371 

nervous  disorder,  made  him  nearly  blind.  "  The 
heroism  shown  year  after  year,"  says  Fiske,  "  in  con 
tending  with  physical  ailments  was  the  index  of  a 
character  fit  to  be  mated,  for  its  pertinacious  courage, 
with  the  heroes  that  live  in  his  shining  pages." 

A  remarkable  autobiographic  fragment  appeared 
after  the  death  of  Parkman,  containing  details  of  his 
work  and  singular  sufferings,  generally  unknown  to 
the  public.1  When  a  young  boy  he  was  absorbingly 
interested  in  natural  science.  At  fifteen  or  sixteen  "  a 
new  passion  seized  him,"  he  says,  writing  of  himself  in 
the  third  person.  "  He  became  enamored  Early 
of  the  woods  —  a  fancy  which  soon  gained  Predilections 
full  control  over  the  course  of  the  literary  pursuits  to 
which  he  was  also  addicted."  At  eighteen  his  plan 
"  was,  in  its  most  essential  features,  formed,"  namely, 
of  "  writing  the  story  of  what  was  then  known  as  the 
'  Old  French  AYar,'  "  the  plan  being  enlarged  later  "  to 
include  the  whole  course  of  the  American  conflict 
between  France  and  England,  or,  in  other  words,  the 
history  of  the  American  forest." 

For  the  accomplishment  of  this  great  literary  pur 
pose  he  prepared  himself  with  systematic  and  singular 
thoroughness.  His  reading  and  study  were  deter 
mined  by  the  new  ambition.  In  conversation  and 
debates,  according  to  a  fellow-student,  he  showed 
"symptoms  of  'Injun'  on  the  brain."  After  gradua- 

1  Harvard  Graduates'  Magazine,  June,  1895,  and  Farnham's 
"  Life  of  Francis  Parkman,"  pp.  318,  et  seq. 


372  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

tion  he  studied  law,  that  he  might  be  able  to  deal 
with  the  constitutional  questions  connected  with  his 
theme.  His  fundamental  rule  of  work  was  to  gather 
material,  as  far  as  possible,  through  personal  observa 
tion  ;  therefore  for  several  years  he  studied  the  woods. 
Summer  vacations  were  spent  in  the  forests  and  in 
exploring  trips.  He  would  know  the  life  of  the 
wilderness  just  as  the  Indian  knew  it ;  so  he  studied 
details  of  rocks,  trees,  plants,  fish,  game,  swamps, 
tangled  thickets,  windfalls,  and  mountain  streams,  not 
as  a  scientist,  but  as  an  acute  observer,  looking  for 
the  relationship  between  these  things  and  the  life  of 
primitive,  savage  men.  That  he  might  endure  the 
hardships  of  forest  exploration  he  subjected  himself 
to  the  most  rigorous  physical  discipline,  taking  long 
and  exhausting  walks  at  a  rapid  pace,  exercising  vio 
lently  in  the  gymnasium,  and  practicing  horsemanship 
under  a  circus  manager. 

One  part  of  his  preparation  was  kept  steadily  in 
view.  He  must  obtain  an  inside  view  of  Indian  char 
acter  by  a  living  contact  with  it.  Accordingly  in  1846 
he  went  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  spent  several 
months  with  a  tribe  of  Dakota  Indians,  entering  into 
every  form  of  the  wild  life  of  primitive  savages,  as 
yet  untouched  by  civilization.  But  the  hardships  were 
Life  among  too  great  for  his  constitution.  For  weeks 
the  Indians  ]ie  ro(je  over  the  Black  Hills  "reeling  in 
the  saddle  with  weakness  and  pain."  From  this  ex 
pedition  he  returned  with  health  permanently  shat- 


vin]  THE   HISTORIANS  373 

tered.  "  The  light  of  the  sun  became  insupportable, 
and  a  wild  whirl  possessed  his  brain,  joined  to  a  uni 
versal  turmoil  of  the  nervous  system  which  put  his 
philosophy  to  the  sharpest  test."  It  was  a  heavy 
price  to  pay  for  historic  material,  but  the  material 
proved  to  be  precious,  for  it  can  never  be  duplicated. 
Of  the  real  red  men  Parkman  is  the  final  historian. 
Twenty-five  years  after  his  thrilling  experience  he 
wrote :  "  The  wild  cavalcade  that  defiled  with  me 
down  the  gorges  of  the  Black  Hills,  with  its  paint 
and  war  plumes,  fluttering  trophies  and  savage  em 
broidery,  bows,  arrows,  lances,  and  shields,  will  never 
be  seen  again." 

At  the  very  climax  of  his  nervous  disorder  he  began 
the  "  Conspiracy  of  Pontiac."  Books  and  documents 
were  read  to  him  "at  such  times  as  he  could  listen 
to  them,  the  length  of  each  reading  never,  without 
injury,  much  exceeding  half  an  hour,  and  periods  of 
several  days  frequently  occurred  during  which  he 
could  not  listen  at  all.  Notes  were  made  by  him  with 

closed  eyes,  and  afterward  deciphered  and 

J  Painful  Labor 

read  to  him  till  he  had  mastered  them.    For 

the  first  half  year  the  rate  of  composition  averaged 
about  six  lines  a  day."  Under  similar  conditions  vol 
ume  after  volume  of  his  great  work  was  produced. 
He  was  himself  what  he  pronounced  his  hero  La  Salle 
to  be,  "a  grand  type  of  incarnate  energy  and  will." 
Physical  suffering  he  endured  with  stoical  fortitude, 
preserving  a  sane  and  cheerful  temper  by  sheer  self- 


374  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

compulsion.  The  agonizing  nervous  disorder  he  always 
referred  to  humorously  as  "  the  enemy,"  and  from  the 
torment  of  this  enemy  he  was  never  wholly  free. 
In  later  years  his  sight  was  "so  far  improved  as  to 
permit  reading,  not  exceeding  on  the  average  five  min 
utes  at  a  time."  During  the  periods  —  some  of  them 
extending  to  years  —  when  literary  work  was  entirely 
prohibited,  he  turned  to  gardening,  becoming  eminent 
especially  in  rose-culture,  and  teaching  "  even  the 
lilies  an  unwonted  florescence."  Five  times  he  went 
abroad  to  search  the  archives  of  France  and  England 
and  gather  documentary  material,  and  by  the  aid  of 
friends  and  competent  assistants  he  did  this  work  so 
thoroughly  that  no  revision  of  his  results  is  likely 
ever  to  be  needed. 

Soon  after  his  return  from  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
Parkman  published  the  "  Oregon  Trail,"  a  captivating 
narrative  of  his  thrilling  experiences,  more  interesting 
than  one  of  Cooper's  novels,  and  even  superior  to 
Irving's  "Captain  Bonneville"  and  "Astoria"  in  the 
same  field.  The  first  of  the  series  of  his  great  his 
torical  narratives  to  be  published  (1851)  was  the 
"Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,"  though  chronologically  the 
last  of  the  series,  and  a  kind  of  sequel  to  the  whole 
work;  for  in  this  volume  it  was  his  pur- 

His  Books 

pose  "  to  portray  the  American  forest  and 
the  American  Indian  at  the  period  when  both  received 
their  final  doom."  The  theme  of  his  whole  work 
might  be  described  as  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  French 


vni]  THE    HISTOHIANS  375 

power  in  North  America,  or  the  struggle  between  the 
French  and  English  for  supremacy  in  the  New  World. 
The  several  parts  of  this  theme,  arranged  in  proper 
sequence,  are  "  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New 
World  " ;  "  The  Jesuits  in  North  America  " ;  "  La 
Salle,  or  the  Discovery  of  the  Great  West " ;  "  The 
Old  Regime  in  Canada " ;  "  Count  Frontenac,  or  New 
France  under  Louis  XIV  " ;  "A  Half  Century  of  Con 
flict  " ;  "  Montcalm  and  Wolfe  " ;  and  "  The  Conspiracy 
of  Pontiac  and  the  Indian  Wars  after  the  Conquest 
of  Canada." 

Not  a  line  of  these  twelve  volumes  was  written 
without  physical  strain,  yet  the  style  is  as  free, 
joyous,  and  serene  as  if  the  work  had  been  done 
under  conditions  of  ideal  comfort.  Two  things  he 
determined  to  achieve  in  his  writing,  interest  and 
accuracy,  and  the  most  excruciating  pain  could  not 
swerve  him  from  this  ideal.  In  a  preface  he  says : 
"  If  at  times  it  may  seem  that  range  has  been  allowed 
to  fancy,  it  is  so  in  appearance  only,  since  parkman's 
the  minutest  details  of  narrative  or  de-  style 
scription  rest  on  authentic  documents  or  on  personal 
observation."  His  love  of  truth  "  was  almost  a  re- 
•  ligion,"  says  his  biographer,  "  and  his  work  might  be 
taken  as  the  altar  of  his  self-sacrifice."  He  visited 
every  important  place  described  in  his  books.  This 
fact,  together  with  an  intimate  knowledge  of  nature, 
gives  to  his  style  a  breezy,  out-of-door  freshness  quite 
unique  in  historical  literature.  "  His  books  fairly 


376  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

reek  with  the  fragrance  of  pine  woods."  In  these  re 
spects  he  has  the  advantage  of  Prescott,  who  never 
visited  any  of  the  scenes  of  his  books,  and  whose 
classic  grace  of  style  suggests  at  times  the  limitations 
of  the  library.  Parkman  is  not  less  scrupulous  with 
his  style  than  Prescott,  but  he  has  more  of  the  art  of 
modern  realism,  possessing  the  power  of  so  producing 
the  illusion  of  reality,  with  all  its  vivid  and  picturesque 
possibilities,  as  to  invest  dry  facts  with  the  proverbial 
charms  of  fiction.  In  his  portraiture  he  adheres 
strictly  to  facts,  leaving  inferences  of  motive  and 
character  to  the  reader.  He  seldom  praises  or  sym 
pathizes  with  his  characters ;  his  concern  is  with  the 
deeds  of  men,  not  with  their  emotions  or  philosophy. 
It  may  be  too  early  yet  to  settle  Parkman's  position 
as  a  historian,  but  the  estimate  of  his  judicious  fellow- 
historian  Fiske  cannot  be  far  wrong :  "  Great  in  his 
natural  powers  and  great  in  the  use  he  made  of  them, 
Parkman  was  no  less  great  in  his  occasion  and  in  his 
theme.  Of  all  the  American  historians  he  is  the  most 
Fiske's  deeply  and  peculiarly  American,  yet  he  is 

Estimate  a^  ^g  sarae  time  the  broadest  and  most 
cosmopolitan.  The  book  that  depicts  at  once  the 
social  life  of  the  Stone  Age  and  the  victory  of  the 
English  political  ideal  over  the  ideal  which  France 
inherited  from  imperial  Rome  is  a  book  for  all  man 
kind  and  for  all  time.  The  more  adequately  men's 
historic  perspective  gets  adjusted,  the  greater  will  it 
seem.  Strong  in  its  individuality  and  like  to  nothing 


vin]  THE   HISTORIANS  377 

beside,  it  clearly  belongs,  I  think,  among  the  world's 
few  masterpieces  of  the  highest  rank,  along  with  the 
works  of  Herodotus,  Thucydides,  and  Gibbon." 

Reading  and  Discussion.  —  The  Oregon  Trail ;  The  Jesuits  in 
North  America,  or  Montcalm  and  Wolfe. 

Biography  and  Criticism. — Farnhara's  "Life  of  Francis 
Parkinan."  '-Francis  Parkman's  Autobiography"  (Harvard 
Graduates'1  Magazine,  June,  1895).  Fiske's  "A  Century  of 
Science  and  Other  Essays."  Century  Magazine,  November, 
1892  (James  Russell  Lowell).  Vedder's  "American  Writers 
of  To-day."  Gilder's  "Authors  at  Home."  Carpenter's 
"American  Prose."  Richardson's  "American  Literature." 
Library  of  the  World's  Best  Literature.  Roosevelt  and 
Lodge's  "  Hero  Tales  from  American  History."  Holines's 
"Francis  Parkman." 

A  full  survey  of  American  historical  literature  would  include 
many  authors  of  distinguished  merit,  some  of  whom  fall  little 
short  of  achieving  the  highest  eminence.  Richard  Hildreth's 
(1807-1865)  "History  of  the  United  States"  has  generally 
been  regarded  as  a  formidable  rival  of  Bancroft's  work,  written 
from  the  point  of  view  of  a  Hamiltonian  Federalist,  as  Ban 
croft's  is  from  that  of  a  Jeffersonian  Democrat. 

Aside  from  its  partisan  bias,  which  at  times  oblit-   T, 

Historians 

erates  the  judicial  quality,  it  is  valuable  for  refer 
ence  and  comparison  ;  but  it  lacks  the  saving  grace  of  style, 
and  is,  therefore,  dry  and  forbidding  reading.  James  Schou- 
ler's  "  History  of  the  United  States  under  the  Constitution  " 
and  Henry  Adams's  "  History  of  the  United  States,  1801-1817," 
are  excellent  works,  dealing  mainly  with  the  political  and  con 
stitutional  development  of  the  nation.  Thomas  Wentworth 
Higginson's  "  Larger  History  of  the  United  States,  to  the  Close 
of  Jackson's  Presidency,"  is  a  carefully  studied  narrative, 
written  with  the  lucidity  and  grace  of  the  author's  delightful 
essays,  and,  therefore,  eminently  readable.  Edward  Eggleston 


378  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP 

in  his  last  years,  devoted  a  well-trained  literary  gift  to  the 
writing  of  history;  "The  Beginners  of  a  Nation"  and  "The 
Transit  of  Civilization"  are  the  first  volumes  of  an  extensive 
work  to  be  entitled  "A  History  of  Life  in  the  United  States," 
in  which  the  "  culture -history"  of  the  people  was  to  be  given, 
with  special  fullness  in  the  colonial  period.  The  "History  of 
the  People  of  the  United  States,"  by  John  Bach  McMaster,  is 
modeled  in  style  and  method  upon  the  histories  of  Macaulay 
and  Green,  and  possesses  many  of  the  substantial  merits  of 
those  masterpieces.  It  takes  up  the  narrative  of  national  prog 
ress  where  Bancroft  left  it,  and,  with  an  extraordinary  supply 
of  minute  details,  gathered  by  vast  industry,  unfolds  the  life  of 
the  people  in  all  its  phases  with  a  fullness  that  makes  the  work 
indispensable  for  the  period  it  covers. 

Among  the  latest  historians,  John  Fiske  (1842-1901),  per 
haps,  has  given  strongest  promise  of  permanency  and  high 
rank.  His  ten  volumes  devoted  to  the  colonial  and  revolution 
ary  periods  constitute  a  worthy  monument  to  his  scholarly  re 
search  and  literary  attainments.  The  titles  of  the  parts  of  his 
general  scheme  are:  "The  Discovery  of  America,"  "Begin 
nings  of  New  England,"  "Old  Virginia  and  her  Neighbors," 
"The  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies,"  "  The  American  Revolu 
tion,"  and  "The  Critical  Period  of  American  History."  While 
not  without  distinction  as  an  investigator  of  original  sources, 
Fiske  shows  his  strength  mainly  as  a  critical  and  judicial  re 
viewer  of  the  results  of  his  predecessors,  and  as  a  master  of 
clear  exposition  and  of  a  style  remarkable  for  its  lucidity,  sim 
plicity,  and  force.  Among  histories  of  particular  sections,  John 
Gorham  Palfrey's  (1796-1881)  "History  of  New  England,"  is 
preeminent.  It  is,  says  Jameson,  "probably  the  best  single 
large  piece  of  work  that  has  been  done  in  America  on  any  part 
of  our  colonial  period."  His  thoroughness,  accuracy,  exten 
sive  knowledge  of  original  sources,  and  general  skill  in  narra 
tion,  have  made  it  a  standard  authority.  The  monumental 
"Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,"  of  Justin  "Win 
ger,  is,  in  the  main,  a  collection  of  monographs  by  specialists, 
varying  accordingly  in  interest  and  value.  This  author's 


vin]  THE    HISTORIANS  379 

"  Christopher  Columbus,"  "  Cartier  to  Frontenac,"  and  "  The 
Mississippi  Basin,"  are  scholarly  contributions  to  our  history 
of  permanent  worth.  The  colossal  undertaking  of  Hubert 
Howe  Bancroft,  the  "History  of  the  Pacific  Coast  of  North 
America,"  which  already  extends  to  fifty  portly  volumes,  and 
for  which  the  collection  of  original  documents  is  the  largest 
ever  made  for  a  similar  purpose  in  America,  is  to  be  regarded 
rather  as  the  rich  material  of  history  than  as  finished  history. 
Among  the  historians,  as  well  as  anywhere,  we  may  include 
George  Ticknor,  the  biographer  of  Prescott,  whose  learned 
"History  of  Spanish  Literature,"  published  in  1849,  remains 
still  without  a  rival. 

The  most  interesting,  and,  in  many  respects,  the  most  valu 
able  part  of  history  is  that  which  is  written  in  the  form  of  indi 
vidual  biography.  The  finest  exponents  of  a 
nation's  greatness  are  its  great  men  ;  and  it  is  the 
work  of  the  biographer  to  record  and  perpetuate  this  illustrious 
portion  of  national  life.  American  literature  has  no  Boswells  ; 
biographical  writing  has  generally  been  incidental  to  other  liter 
ary  work  —  no  author  has  devoted  his  best  energies  exclusively 
to  this  form  of  composition  ;  and  yet  we  need  make  no  con 
fession  of  poverty  in  this  department  of  our  literature.  William 
Wirt's  (1772-1834)  "Life  of  Patrick  Henry"  and  John  Mar 
shall's  (1755-18:>5)  "Life  of  Washington,"  written  early  in 
the  century,  are  venerable  works,  worthy  of  their  great  subjects. 
The  inspiring  and  fruitful  work  of  .Tared  Sparks  was  directed 
mainly  toward  biography.  Irving  poured  his  fine  literary  tal 
ents  into  the  "Life  and  Voyages  of  Columbus,"  "Mahomet 
and  his  Successors,"  and  "Life  of  Washington,"  books  that 
still  retain  a  substantial  value  in  the  press  of  modern  competi 
tors. 

The  most  extensive  and  popular  writer  of  biography  in 
America  is  James  Parton  (1822-1891).  His  first  work  was  the 
"Life  of  Horace  Greeley,"  which  Greeley  himself  declared  to 
be  "mighty  interesting  reading,"  and  which  the  public  de 
manded  at  the  rate  of  thirty  thousand  copies  a  year.  His  next 
success  was  the  "  Life  and  Times  of  Aaron  Burr,"  which  is  as 


380  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP,  via 

interesting  to-day  as  when  published  in  1858.  Other  equally 
interesting  and  worthy  biographies  are  his  lives  of  Franklin, 
Andrew  Jackson,  and  Thomas  Jefferson.  His  last  serious  pro 
duction  was  the  "Life  of  Voltaire,"  the  studies  for  which  ex 
tended  over  a  period  of  twenty  years.  The  present  tendency 
of  biographical  writing  is  illustrated  in  the  two  notable  series, 
"American  Statesmen"  and  "American  Men  of  Letters,"  in 
which  is  found  the  work  of  many  of  the  best  contemporary 
writers  and  scholars.  Of  several  autobiographic  works  in 
recent  years,  the  finest  is  the  "  Personal  Memoirs  of  Ulysses  S. 
Grant,"  which,  through  the  inherent  interest  of  its  matter,  its 
strong,  direct  style,  and  its  well-measured  judgments  of  men 
and  events,  is  likely  to  hold  a  permanent  place  in  literature. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS 

IK  literature,  as  in  commerce  and  society,  the  influ 
ence  of  great  cities  has  become  a  formative  force. 
The  tendency  of  productive  energy  is  toward  the  large 
commercial  centers ;  their  vast  and  varied  aggrega 
tions  of  personality  and  competitive  industry  furnish 
a  powerful  stimulus  to  talent  in  every  field.  The 
metropolis  is  a  world  in  itself,  representative  of  the 
great  outside  world,  from  which  it  draws 

Xnc  CrTCcit 

its  sustenance.  Human  experience  is  here  centers  of 
broadened  and  intensified,  and  human  en 
deavor  is  correspondingly  quickened.  Here  are  the 
accumulated  treasures  of  wealth,  culture,  and  the 
arts.  The  intellectual  life  of  the  nation  here  flows 
in  its  highest  and  swiftest  tides.  Here  are  the  great 
publishing  houses,  newspapers,  and  magazines.  The 
author  is  brought  into  close  touch  with  the  market 
for  his  wares;  he  works  in  a  thrifty,  business  inti 
macy  with  printer  and  publisher.  And  the  allure 
ment  of  these  material  advantages  and  opportunities 
draws  cityward,  with  increasing  power,  writers  who 
have  begun  the  courtship  of  fame  in  quiet  country 
homes. 

881 


382  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

But  this  gravitation  of  authorship  to  the  metropo 
lis  is  not  without  detriment  to  literature.  Exposed 
to  the  contagious  greed  for  material  gain,  authors 
are  tempted  to  write  down  to  a  popular  taste  for 
sensational  entertainment,  impelled  by  the  hope  of 
large  returns,  instead  of  writing  up  to  artistic  stand- 
injurious  ards,  impelled  and  sustained  by  high 
influences  ideals.  Professional  journalism  more  and 
more  absorbs  the  best  literary  energy ;  writers  of  the 
finest  gifts,  drawn  into  its  stimulating  service,  and 
trained  in  its  methods  of  dexterous  celerity  for  meet 
ing  the  feverish  demands  of  the  public,  dissipate  their 
talents  in  hasty,  ephemeral  work.  The  spirit  of  com 
mercialism  invades  the  sanctity  of  art;  a  monetary 
standard  is  applied  to  the  success  of  authorship. 
Authors  become  unwilling  to  "meditate  the  thank 
less  Muse "  and  write  for  immortality,  but  meditate 
rather  the  application  of  business  principles  to  litera 
ture,  rapid  production,  quick  returns  and  a  watchful 
eye  upon  popular  demand.  The  great  danger  to  our 
literature  to-day  is  this  tendency  to  commercialize  it. 

The  literature  produced  under  these  conditions  will 
necessarily  bear  the  stamp  of  its  metropolitan  origin, 
more  or  less  strongly  impressed  according  as  the 

author  masters  or  is  mastered  by  his  en- 
Qualities  of 

Metropolitan    vironment.     In  general  it  will  be  versatile, 
clever,  and  entertaining,  revealing  a  sensi 
tiveness   to   the    complex    influences   of  wealth   and 
society ;  it  will  be  cosmopolitan  in  theme,  often  highly 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS  383 

finished  in  style,  but  impressional  rather  than  schol 
arly,  lacking  in  depth,  and  seriousness ;  sometimes 
merely  experimental  or  eccentric,  without  coherence, 
system,  or  completeness ;  finally,  it  will  be  free  from 
provincialism  and  deprived  of  the  local  color  and  per 
sonality  that  give  strength  to  provincial  writing.  The 
best  of  the  metropolitan  literature  is  that  which  shows 
the  struggle  of  the  ideal  with  its  material  entangle 
ment.  Occasionally  an  author  of  resolute  purpose, 
like  Bryant,  lives  two  lives,  keeping  a  clear  path 
through  the  low-lying  plain  of  business  to  the  up 
lands  of  poetry  and  dreams. 

From  every  quarter  of  the  winds  authors  have  been 
gathering  in  recent  years  in  great  metropolitan  New 
York.  Early  in  the  last  century  the  presence  of  the 
Knickerbocker  group  made  New  York  for  a  time  the 
chief  literary  center,  and  now  more  widely  pervasive 
forces  have  made  it  again  the  literary  capi-  Literary 
tal.  In  this  restless  throng  of  writers  it  is  New  York 
possible  to  distinguish  two  or  three  well-defined  groups ; 
the  Poets,  who  succeeded  the  great  New  England 
singers,  the  Essayists,  who  like  George  William  Cur 
tis  love  to  remember  how  Irving  and  Addison  wrote, 
and  the  Story-tellers,  who  with  remarkable  fertility 
of  resource  cater  to  the  capricious  tastes  of  a  public 
that  divides  its  literary  allegiance  between  the  latest 
new  novel  and  the  latest  new  play. 

Chief  of  the  metropolitan  group  of  poets  are  Bay 
ard  Taylor,  Bichard  Henry  Stoddard,  Thomas  Bailey 


384  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Aldrich,  and  Edmund  Clarence  Stedman.  All  were 
from  the  country,  all  were  connected  for  better  or  for 
worse  with  city  journalism,  all  show  the  restraining, 
entangling  influences  of  metropolitan  life  upon  their 
literary  development.  The  recognized  leader  and  in- 
spirer  of  this  brotherhood  of  city  poets  was  Bayard 
Taylor,  whose  friendship  is  still  a  precious  memory  to 
the  companions  who  have  survived  him. 

BAYARD   TAYLOR 
1825-1878 

From  sturdy  Quaker  stock,  Bayard  Taylor  was  born 
at  Kennet  Square,  Chester  County,  Penn.,  in  1825. 
A  remote  ancestor  came  over  with  William  Penn. 
Through  his  mother  he  inherited  a  trace  of  German 
blood,  to  which  fact  is  sometimes  attributed  his  in 
clination  toward  Teutonic  studies.  His  highest  school 
privileges  were  found  in  a  village  academy.  A  phre 
nologist  said  to  the  father,  upon  glancing  at  the  boy's 
head,  "  You  will  never  make  a  farmer  of  him  to  any 
Early  great  extent;  you  will  never  keep  him 

inclinations  home ;  that  boy  will  ramble  around  the 
world,  and  furthermore,  he  has  all  the  marks  of  a 
poet."  The  passions  that  controlled  his  life  were  here 
correctly  indicated.  His  earliest  school  essays  were 
upon  travel  and  foreign  scenes  with  which  his  fancy 
was  constantly  busy.  At  fifteen  he  made  his  first 
tramp  abroad,  a  trip  on  foot  to  the  battlefield  of 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS  385 

Brandywine,  and  a  description  of  the  trip  in  a  local 
newspaper  was  his  first  publication.  The  next  year 
he  made  his  first  appearance  as  a  poet  in  the  Philadel 
phia  Saturday  Evening  Post,  the  delicious  sensations 
of  which  event  are  described  in  the  novel,  "John 
Godfrey's  Fortunes."  At  seventeen  he  was  appren 
ticed  to  a  printer,  and  in  the  intervals  of  type-setting 
studied  German,  Spanish,  and  the  English  poets.  In 
1844  he  published  "Ximena,"  a  little  volume  of 
poems,  which,  like  the  firstlings  of  so  many  other 
poets,  were  thoroughly  regretted  afterward.  The 
title-page  bore  a  significant  quotation,  "  I  am  a  Youth 
ful  Traveler  in  the  Way."  The  book  won  for  him 
a  few  literary  friends  and  a  little  money,  with  which 
means  he  was  enabled  to  engage  in  an  adventure  that 
brought  success  and  fame. 

Willis's  " Pencillings  by  the  Way"  and  Long 
fellow's  "  Hyperion "  fortified  his  determination  to 
realize  the  golden  visions  of  Europe  with  which  his 
mind  was  filled.  With  one  hundred  and  forty  dollars 
and  a  few  promises  from  newspaper  editors  to  accept 
his  descriptive  letters,  he  crossed  the  ocean  and  spent 
two  years  in  Europe,  tramping  "upwards  of  three 
thousand  miles."  He  endured  many  hardships,  trav 
eling  "with  but  a  sheet  of  paper  between  him  and 
starvation,"  as  Greeley  described  it,  learning  how  to 
live  upon  six  cents  a  day,  but  reveling  in  the  knowledge 
and  culture  that  flowed  in  upon  his  mind.  "  It  was 
his  university  education,''  says  his  biographer. 
2c 


386  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Upon  his  return  in  1846  his  letters  to  the  Tribune 
and  other  papers  were  gathered  into  a  volume,  with 
the  title  "  Views  Afoot ;  or,  Europe  seen  with  Knap 
sack  and  Staff."  Success  was  immediate  and  triurn- 
The  Begin-  phaut.  The  indomitable  pluck  displayed, 
nmgofFame  fae  simpie  vigor  of  style,  and  the  poetic 
enthusiasm  delighted  the  public,  and  the  author 
found  himself  at  twenty-one  a  literary  hero.  He 
soon  formed  a  connection  with  the  Tribune,  which 
continued  through  life.  "Rhymes  of  Travel"  was 
published  in  1848,  and  in  1849,  the  epoch-marking 
year  of  the  "  gold  fever,"  he  went  to  California  to  de 
scribe  for  readers  of  the  Tribune  the  wild  life  of  the 
mining  camps.  The  next  year  brought  to  Taylor  his 
first  profound  knowledge  of  grief  in  the  death  of  his 
young  wife,  the  "  radiantly  beautiful "  Mary  Agnew. 
In  her  grave,  says  Smyth,  he  "buried  the  first  period 
of  his  literary  life." 

Taylor  now  yielded  again  to  the  enticements  of 
foreign  travel,  and  made  an  extended  trip  through 
the  Orient ;  nor  did  his  visits  to  the  Old  World  cease 
until  he  had  explored  every  region  of  popular  interest, 
from  Japan  and  the  peaks  of  the  Himalayas  to  Ice- 
An  ideal  land,  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  the 
Traveler  White  Nile.  Eleven  volumes,  a  veritable 
"  library  -of  travel  and  adventure,"  are  the  fruits  of 
these  wanderings.  He  was  an  ideal  traveler.  Wher 
ever  he  went  he  learned  the  language  and  entered 
with  boundless  enthusiasm  into  the  life  of  the  people. 


IX] 


THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS 


387 


From  Constantinople  he  wrote :  "  I  wear  the  tarboosh, 
smoke  the  Persian  pipe,  and  drop  cross-legged  on  the 
floor  with  the  ease  of  any  tailor  whatever.  I  deter 
mined  to  taste  the  Orient  as  it  was,  in  reality,  not  as  a 
mere  outside  looker-on,  and  so  picked  up  the  Arabic 
tongue,  put  on  the  wide  trousers,  and  adopted  as 
many  Eastern  cus 
toms  as  was  becoming 
to  a  good  Christian." 
But  Taylor's  work 
in  these  interesting 
volumes  of  travel  was 
perishable.  He  wrote, 
not  as  a  student  of 
history  or  antiquities, 
but  merely  as  a  re 
porter,  aiming  to  give 
vivid  pictures  of  for 
eign  scenes,  full  of 

Bayard  Taylor 
true   life    and    color. 

Such  books  are  quickly  read  and  quickly  forgotten. 
Their  wide  popularity  in  the  author's  lifetime  came  to 
be  a  source  of  keen  discomfort,  for  while  his  highest 
ambition  was  to  be  numbered  among  the  great  Ameri 
can  poets,  the  public  persisted  in  regarding  him  only 
as  "  the  great  American  traveler." 

Taylor  was  always  moved  by  a  strong  love  for  his 
native  Chester  County,  and  on  his  final  return  to 
America  he  purchased  a  large  tract  of  land,  including 


388  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

the  old  homestead,  and  built  a  stately  home,  which 
he  named  "  Cedarcroft."  In  1857  he  had  married 

Miss  Marie  Hansen  in  Germany,  and  he 
"  Cedarcroft  " 

now  gathered  his  parents  and  sisters  into 

one  large  family.  But  like  Walter  Scott,  in  the  pride 
and  joy  of  home-building  on  a  princely  scale,  he 
planned  beyond  his  means,  and  "the  home  that  he 
had  longed  for  and  toiled  for  became  a  burden  and 
a  weary  weight,  prematurely  ending  his  overtaxed 
life." 

It  was  this  home  at  Kennet  that  furnished  mainly 
the  materials  for  his  three  novels,  "Hannah  Thurs- 
ton,"  "John  Godfrey's  Fortunes,"  and  "The  Story  of 
Kennet."  The  first  was  a  satire  on  the  reform  efforts 

of  the  period,  teetotalism,  vegetarianism, 
His  Novels 

spiritualism,  and  abolition.      It  reached  a 

wide  popularity,  was  praised  by  Hawthorne,  and 
even  inclined  the  London  Spectator  to  "suspect  that 
Bayard  Taylor  had  placed  himself  in  the  first  rank  of 
novelists."  His  best  novel,  "The  Story  of  Kennet," 
is  an  idyllic  tale,  redolent  of  the  beautiful  fields 
about  "Cedarcroft."  The  characters  were  drawn 
from  life,  some  of  them  from  his  own  family,  and  the 
story  was  drawn  from  his  deepest  affections.  "The 
lovely  pastoral  landscapes,"  he  says,  "have  been 
copied  field  for  field  and  tree  for  tree."  Many  short 
stories  and  sketches  were  contributed  to  the  maga 
zines,  and  some  of  his  best  prose  is  found  in  his 
literary  criticism.  Prose,  however,  was  his  money- 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN    WRITERS  389 

making  drudge;    his  artistic   pains  he  reserved  for 
poetry.  • 

Few  men  of  English  speech  have  equaled  Taylor 
in  the  mastery  of  the  German  language"  and  literature. 
For  many  years  he  devoted  himself  zealously  to  the 
study  of  Goethe  and  Schiller,  whose  biographies  he 
planned  to  write.  In  1869  he  was  elected  to  a  lecture 
ship  on  German  literature  in  Cornell  Uni-  Translation 
versity,  and  in  1870  he  published  his  of  "Faust" 
translation  of  Goethe's  "Faust,"  the  finest  version 
yet  produced  in  the  English  language.  Its  special 
merits  are  sympathetic  interpretation  and  strict  fidel 
ity  to  the  text.  The  thought,  the  subtle  poetic  feel 
ing,  and  the  musical  harmonies  are  preserved,  in  the 
exact  original  meters,  with  marvelous  skill  and  per 
fection.  It  is,  indeed,  a  reproduction  in  English, 
rather  than  a  translation.  Moreover,  it  is  a  scholarly 
piece  of  work,  the  vast  critical  literature  surrounding 
the  poem  having  been  thoroughly  mastered,  as  shown 
by  the  excellent  notes. 

The  poetic  gift  was  held  sacred  by  Taylor ;  to  him, 
as  to  Wordsworth,  it  was  the  "  faculty  divine."     To 
poetry,  therefore,  he  gave  the  best  that  was  in  him, 
and  upon  it  he  based  his  highest  hopes  of  permanent 
fame.     His  finest  thought,  feeling,  and  ideals,  his  gen 
erous  manhood,  love  of  nature,  home,  and  Devotion  to 
kindred,  his   passion    for    perfection,  his   Poetry 
deep  religious  philosophy,  are  fully  expressed  in  his 
verse.     Unlike  Lowell,  he  never  permitted  humor  to 


390  AMERICAN    LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

disturb  the  meditations  of  his  Muse.  His  frolicsome 
wit  was  indulged  only  in  poetic  recreations,  like  the 
exceedingly  clever  parodies  in  the  "  Echo  Club."  The 
rich,  ruby-colored  "Poems  of  the  Orient,"  published 
in  1854,  full  of  fire,  passion,  and  sensuous  delight  in 
beauty,  proved  his  lyrical  gift.  In  this  volume  was 
the  "Bedouin  Song,"  one  of  the  supreme  love  lyrics 
of  the  language :  — 

From  the  Desert  I  come  to  thee 
On  a  stallion  shod  with  fire  ; 
And  the  winds  are  left  behind 

In  the  speed  of  my  desire. 
Under  thy  window  I  stand, 

And  the  midnight  hears  my  cry  : 
I  love  thee,  I  love  but  thee, 
With  a  love  that  shall  not  die 
Till  the  sun  grows  cold, 
And  the  stars  are  old, 
And  the  leaves  of  the  Judgment  Book  unfold! 

The  collection  entitled  "The  Poet's  Journal,"  con 
tains  a  revelation  of  the  poet's  domestic  happiness, 
and  opens  with  a  graceful  dedication  "  To  the  Mistress 
of  Cedarcroft,"  who  is  asked  to  judge  his  poems  — 

Before  they  try  the  common  air  of  song. 
Fame  won  at  home  is  of  all  fame  the  best : 

Crown  me  your  poet,  and  the  critic's  wrong 
Shall  harmless  strike  where  you  in  love  have  smiled, 
Wife  of  my  heart,  and  mother  of  my  child  ! 

The  most  popular  of  the  long  poems  is  "Lars:  A 
Pastoral  of  Xorway,"  a  delightful  idyllic  narrative,  of 
which  Stedman  says :  "  We  have  no  idyl  of  similar 


ix I  THE   METROPOLITAN    WRITERS  391 

length,  except  'Evangeline,'  that  equals  it  in  fmisb 
and  interest."  The  "  Home  Pastorals  and  Ballads," 
like  his  novels,  testify  to  Taylor's  abiding  love  for  his 
native  Chester.  Three  dramatic  poems  mark  the 
highest  reach  of  his  poetic  ambition,  "  The  Prophet," 
"  The  Masque  of  the  Gods,"  and  "  Prince  Deukalion." 
In  these,  especially  the  last,  which  was  his  swan  song, 
are  embodied  his  profoundest  thought  and  loftiest 
spiritual  aspiration. 

The  yoke  of  incessant  labor  under  which  Taylor 
lived  during  his  last  years  was  lightened  somewhat  by 
the  honors  that  came  in  recognition  of  his  eminence 
in  letters.  At  the  dedication  of  the  Gettysburg  mon 
ument,  he  gave  the  ode,  and  his  "  Centennial  Ode,"  at 
the  opening  of  the  Philadelphia  Exposi-  put>iic 
tion  in  1876,  in  the  lofty  Pindaric  measure,  Honors 
was  in  thought  and  style  worthy  of  the  great  occasion 
it  celebrated.  In  1878  he  was  sent  as  minister  to 
Germany.  The  unique  fitness  of  the  appointment 
was  recognized  by  a  universal  expression  of  congratu 
lation.  This  seemed  to  him  the  beginning  of  a  new 
era  in  his  life,  when  with  honors,  leisure,  and  troops 
of  friends,  the  well-earned  accompaniments  of  old 
age,  he  might  consummate  some  of  the  great  purposes 
toward  which  his  soul  had  long  been  yearning.  But 
it  was  only  the  beginning  of  the  end.  His  splendid 
constitution  had  broken  under  the  strain  of  unremit 
ting  toil,  and  death  overtook  him  a  few  months  after 
his  arrival  in  Berlin. 


392  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Taylor  was  the  most  versatile  of  American  authors. 
Only  Holmes  can  be  compared  with  him  in  this  re 
spect.  He  was  traveler,  lecturer,  journalist,  critic, 
translator,  novelist,  poet.  The  whole  gamut  of  liter 
ary  activity  he  sounded,  and  with  distinction.  But 
his  versatility  and  omnivorous  interests  were  his  mis 
fortune,  for  they  prevented  that  devoted  concentration 
necessary  to  the  production  of  work  of  immortal 
greatness.  Taylor's  original  work  in  its  varied  forms 
The  Bane  of  has  almost  every  quality  short  of  great- 
versatility  ness.  His  splendid  productive  energies 
were  wasted  upon  commonplace  work.  His  working 
capacity  was  enormous  ;  he  wrote  always  with  a  rush 
ing  rapidity,  and  often  fifteen  hours  a  day ;  his  pub 
lished  works  number  fifty-two  volumes.  But  he 
respected  his  profession,  and  the  purity,  honesty,  and 
aspiration  that  friends  found  and  loved  so  much  in 
him  as  a  man  are  found  everywhere  in  what  he  wrote. 
The  last  line  of  "Epioedium,"  written  of  Bryant,  was 
as  true  of  himself :  — 

And  his  first  word  was  as  noble  as  his  last. 

If  the  poetry  of  Taylor  is  lacking  in  originality, 
echoing  too  clearly  the  notes  of  other  poets,  if  his 
sonorous  diction  is  at  times  too  rhetorical,  it  is  dis- 
Poetic  tinguished  for  technical  skill  and  finish, 

Qualities  p^  effects  of  sound  and  color,  force  in 
objective  picturing,  lyric  ease  and  grace  and  charm, 
qualities  that  constitute  an  individuality  of  real  living 


ix]  THE    METROPOLITAN    WRITERS  393 

power.  His  subtle  effects  of  alliteration  and  inter 
linear  rhyme,  his  splendid  rhythm  in  such  poems  as 
"  Canopus "  and  "  The  Lost  Crown  "  are  not  easily 

surpassed. 

A  throne  of  gold  the  wheels  uphold, 

Each  spoke  a  ray  of  jeweled  fire  ; 
The  crimson  banners  float  unrolled, 

Or  falter  when  the  winds  expire. 

This  deft  and  flawless  workmanship  leads  Richardson 
to  think  that  after  Holmes,  Taylor  "  was  at  once  the 
most  natural  and  most  accomplished  American  master 
of  the  purely  lyrical  art  since  Poe.  The  melodies  of 
the  infinite  song  rang  in  his  ears."  As  to  his  relative 
rank  Beers  says:  "All  in  all,  Taylor  may  unhesita 
tingly  be  put  first  among  our  poets  of  the  second 
generation  —  the  generation  succeeding  that  of  Long 
fellow  and  Lowell." 

Class  Study.  —  The  Poet  in  the  East ;  Bedouin  Song ;  The 
Song  of  the  Camp  ;  Wind  and  Sea  ;  The  Lost  Crown  ;  Nubia  ; 
Canopus;  "Moan,  ye  Wild  Winds";  Metempsychosis  of  the 
Pine  ;  The  Quaker  Widow  ;  Proposal  ;  The  National  Ode. 

Class  Reading.  —  Poetry :  Lars :  a  Pastoral  of  Norway ;  Eric 
and  Axel ;  Amran's  Wooing ;  August ;  The  Old  Pennsylvania 
Farmer. 

Prose  :  Views  Afoot ;  The  Story  of  Kennet. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  "Life  and  Letters  of  Bayard 
Taylor,"  by  Marie  Hansen  Taylor  and  Horace  E.  Scudder. 
Smyth's  "Bayard  Taylor"  (American  Men  of  Letters).  Wil 
son's  "  Bryant  and  his  Friends."  Stedman's  "Poets  of  Amer 
ica."  Richardson's  "  American  Literature." 

Poets'  Tributes.  —  Whittier's  "  Tent  on  the  Beach."  Read's 
"Home  Pastorals"  (character  of  Arthur).  Stoddard's  "To 


894  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

B.  T."  and  "To  Bayard  Taylor,  on  his  Fortieth  Birthday." 
Aldrich's  "Bayard  Taylor."  Longfellow's  "Bayard  Taylor." 
Cranch's  "Bayard  Taylor." 

RICHARD   HENRY   STODDARD 
1825-1903 

Bayard  Taylor's  closest  friend  in  the  city  group  of 
writers  was  Richard  Henry  Stoddard,  a  lyric  poet 
whose  clear-voiced  melodies  have  not  received  their 
due  meed  of  praise.  He  was  born  in  Hingham,  Mass., 
in  1825,  and  in  early  childhood  found  a  permanent 
home  in  New  York.  There  was  little  in  the  condi 
tions  of  his  youth  to  encourage  the  taste  for  letters, 
but  he  early  set  his  face  toward  Arcady,  and  for  more 
Early  than  half  a  century  he  dwelt  within  her 

struggles  fitful  and  bewitching  shades.  He  attended 
the  city  schools,  then  worked  by  day  in  an  iron 
foundry,  and  by  night  studied  the  poets.  In  1849  he 
published  a  little  volume  of  poems  called  "  Foot 
prints,"  and  in  1852  a  second  collection,  more  truly 
representative  of  his  qualities.  Through  the  kindly 
aid  of  Hawthorne,  he  obtained  a  place  in  the  New 
York  Custom  House,  which  he  retained  seventeen 
years.  After  this  service  he  gave  himself  unre 
servedly  to  literature. 

It  was  Stoddard's  happy  lot  to  marry  a  gifted 
woman,  who  has  written  poems  of  sterling  worth,  and 
three  powerful  novels,  "The  Morgesons,"  "Two  Men," 
and  "  Temple  House,"  the  last  of  which  is  regarded 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS  395 

by  Leslie  Stephen  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
books  of  the  age.  But  these  books  were  born  out  of 

due  time,  and  their  original  and  striking 

3    Elizabeth 

qualities  did  not  catch  public  favor ;  they   Barstow 
contained  some  of  the  strongest  features-of  stoddard 
realism  and  of  the  intense  method  of  Ibsen,  before 
realism  and  Ibsenism  had  appeared  as  literary  creeds. 
In  the  "  Hymn  to  the  Beautiful,"  a  poem  that  re 
calls  Shelley's  "  Hymn  to  Intellectual  Beauty,"  Stod 
dard  tells  us  how  the  spirit  of  beauty  possessed  him 
even  in  youth :  — 

From  earliest  infancy  my  heart  was  thine, 
With  childish  feet  I  trod  thy  temple  aisles  ; 
Not  knowing  tears,  I  worshiped  thee  with  smiles, 

Or  if  I  wept  it  was  with  joy  divine. 

By  day,  and  night,  on  land,  and  sea,  and  air, 
I  saw  thee  everywhere. 

In  1856  appeared  "  Songs  of  Summer,"  by  which  his 
fame  was  established,  "the  most  specifically  poetic 
book  of  verse,"  in  Stedman's  judgment,  "produced  in 
this  country  up  to  that  time,  and  the  one  most  worth 
having  for  its  melody  and  artistic  beauty."  If  the 
passionate  love  of  beauty  and  the  prodigal  fancy  sug 
gest  Keats,  there  is  also  evidence  that  the  poet  was 
developing  a  clear,  spontaneous  expression,  soon  to 
be  recognized  as  his  own.  In  this  volume  is  the 
familiar  "  Flight  of  Youth  "  :  - 

There  are  gains  for  all  our  losses, 
There  are  balms  for  all  our  pain  ; 


396  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

and  such  gemlike  felicities  as  this :  — 

The  sky  is  a  drinking-cup, 

That  was  overturned  of  old, 
And  it  pours  in  the  eyes  of  men 

Its  wine  of  airy  gold. 

We  drink  that  wine  all  day. 

Till  the  last  drop  is  drained  up, 
And  are  lighted  off  to  bed 

By  the  jewels  in  the  cup  ! 

Stoddard's  gift  is  essentially  lyric,  but  he  has  at 
tempted  the  epic  successfully  in  the  form  of  the 
A  L  'c  Poet  Ballad  an(^  the  metrical  tale.  "  The  King's 
Bell "  is  a  pleasing  narrative  poem,  in 
smooth-flowing  and  graceful  verse,  presenting  the 
heavy  thought  of  the  limitations  of  human  happiness. 
His  loftiest  lyrical  efforts  are  a  centennial  ode, 
"  Guests  of  the  State,"  a  Phi  Beta  Kappa  poem, 
"  History,"  read  at  Harvard  College,  and  a  noble 
Horatian  ode,  "  Abraham  Lincoln,"  which,  says  Ved- 
der,  "  one  is  inclined  to  pronounce,  not  only  the  best 
thing  Stoddard  has  ever  written,  but  the  best  thing 
any  poet  has  written  on  Lincoln,  saving  only  Lowell's 
unapproached  '  Commemoration  Ode.' "  But  it  is  by 
his  bright,  sweet  songs  that  he  is  best  known,  "a 
skylark  brood  whose  notes  are  rich  with  feeling." 
A  personal  note  _is  struck  in  the  sequence  of  little 
lyrics  entitled  "In  Memoriam,"  which  are  heart- 
melting  in  the  simple  and  direct  expression  of  grief. 
Stoddard's  father  was  a  sea  captain,  and  his  earliest 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN    WRITERS  397 

years  were  spent  near  the  ocean;  these  facts  may 
explain  the  frequency  with  which  he  turns  to  this 
theme  in  his  poems.  The  beauty  and  mystery  of  the 
multitudinous  seas  are  always  exercising  their  charm 
upon  him.  It  was  perhaps  the  recognition  of  this 
lifelong  influence  that  led  him,  in  the  collection  pub 
lished  in  1880,  intended  as  the  definitive  edition  of 
his  poems,  to  place  at  the  end  the  beautiful  "  Hymn 
to  the  Sea,"  in  which  the  curling  ripples  on  the  sand 
and  the  sounding  beat  of  surf  are  alike  reproduced  in 
the  finely  varied  rhythm  of  his  verse. 

Summer  and  winter  are  alike  to  thee, 

The  settled,  sullen  sorrow  of  the  sky 

Empty  of  light ;  the  laughter  of  the  sun  ; 

The  comfortable  murmur  of  the  wind 

From  peaceful  countries,  and  the  mad  uproar 

That  storms  let  loose  upon  thee  in  the  night 

Which  they  create  and  quicken  with  sharp,  white  fire, 

And  crash  of  thunders  !     Thou  art  terrible 

In  thy  tempestuous  moods,  when  the  loud  winds 

Precipitate  their  strength  against  the  waves  ; 

They  rave,  and  grapple,  and  wrestle,  until  at  last, 

Baffled  by  their  own  violence,  they  fall  back, 

And  thou  art  calm  again,  no  vestige  left 

Of  the  commotion,  save  the  long,  slow  roll 

In  summer  days  on  beaches  far  away. 

Like  Taylor,  Stoddard  has  been  a  prodigious  writer 
of  prose.  Much  of  it  is  excellent  literary  criticism  and 
biography,  and  his  reminiscences  of  American  authors 
are  especially  valuable.  But  this  writing  is  too  often 
merely  the  product  of  personal  need  or  the  publisher's 


398  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

demand  for  timely  "  copy,"  and  forms  but  a  perishable 
memorial  of  a  life  of  conscientious  and  toilsome  literary 

industry.      So  long  as  there  are  independ- 
Prose  Work 

ent  souls,  like  Taylor  and  Stoddard,  who  in 

a  metropolis  given  over  largely  to  the  ideals  of  mam 
mon  dedicate  themselves  wholly  to  literature,  to  live 
by  it  and  to  die  by  it,  there  is  hope  of  the  higher  life 
for  art  and  society.  The  devotion,  denial,  and  struggle 
of  such  lives  render  them  in  the  highest  sense  heroic. 

Class  Study.  —  The  Flight  of  Youth  ;  Hymn  to  the  Beauti 
ful ;  The  Sky  is  a  Drinking-Cup ;  Birds;  The  Dead;  "Along 
the  Grassy  Slope  I  Sit"  ;  The  Sea  —  "You  stooped  and  picked 
a  Red-lipped  Shell";  A  Rose  Song;  Summer  and  Autumn; 
Adsum  ;  Abraham  Lincoln  ;  Hymn  to  the  Sea. 

Class  Reading.  —  The  King's  Bell ;  Wishing  and  Having  ; 
Youth  and  Age  ;  You  know  the  Old  Hidalgo  ;  Miserrimus  ;  An 
Old  Song  Reversed ;  At  Gadshill ;  The  Country  Life  ;  Irrep 
arable. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  — Vedder's  "  American  "Writers  of 
To-day."  Gilder's  "Authors  at  Home."  Bolton's  "Famous 
American  Authors."  Critic,  July  6,  1895,  and  April  3,  1897. 
Stedman's  "  Poets  of  America."  Halsey's  "  American  Authors 
and  Their  Homes." 

Poets'  Tributes. — Taylor's  "Epistle  from  Mount  Tmolus, 
to  Richard  Henry  Stoddard"  and  "To  R.H.S."  Edith  M. 
Thomas's  "0  Most  Reverend  of  All  the  Singing  Throng." 
Riley's  "0  Princely  Poet." 

THOMAS  BAILEY  ALDRICH 
1836- 

Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich,  our  poet  par  excellence  of 
delicate  and  polished  measures,  the  "  American  Her- 


ix]  THE    METROPOLITAN   WRITERS  399 

rick,"  belongs  with  the  New  York  poets  who  were  his 
early  friends  and  associates,  although  his  name  is 
commonly  associated  with'  Boston.  He  was  born  in 
1836  in  picturesque  old  Portsmouth,  N.H.,  and  there 
spent  his  early  youth.  The  history  of  those  years  is 
given  in  "The  Story  of  a  Bad  Boy,"  the 
most  delightful  bad  boy  in  literature,  of  a  Bad 
whose  story  charms  old  and  young  alike. 
(Lowell  wished  the  little  book  "had  been  twice  as 
large.")  The  financial  misfortunes  of  the  family  de 
prived  him  of  a  college  education.  At  eighteen  he 
went  to  New  York,  where  he  spent  the  first  three 
years  as  a  clerk  in  a  mercantile  house.  But  day 
books  and  ledgers  were  not  the  books  he  was  born  to 
live  by.  In  1855  he  published  a  little  volume  of 
poems,  "  The  Bells,"  and  the  next  year  appeared  that 
lyric  of  melting  tenderness,  "  Baby  Bell,"  by  which 
he  is  universally  known.  He  obtained  an  editorial 
position  on  the  Home  Journal,  read  manuscripts  for 
the  publishers,  wrote  stories  for  the  magazines,  and 
worked  faithfully  at  the  refinement  of  his  art.  He 
early  showed  a  tendency  toward  that  perfection  of 
form  and  style  for  which  his  work,  in  both  prose  and 
verse,  is  especially  distinguished. 

In  1870  Aldrich  removed  to  Boston  to  become  the 
editor  of  Every  Saturday,  a  literary  periodical  that 
proved  to  be  too  good  to  live  beyond  its  fourth  year. 
In  1881  he  succeeded  Howells  in  the  editorship  of 
the  Atlantic  Monthly,  and  sustained  for  nine  years 


400  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

the  traditional  excellence  of  that  honorable  office. 
During  this  period  he  wrote  the  prose  works  that  have 
Editorial  given  him  high"  rank  among  writers  of  fic- 
work;  tion.  "  Marjorie  Daw,  and  Other  Stories," 

published  in  1873,  established  his  reputation 
for  artistic  short  stories.  The  title  story  is  a  master 
piece,  unsurpassed  for  originality  of  conception,  re 
fined  and  graceful  style,  and  artistic  completeness.  It 
has  been  translated  into  French,  Spanish,  German,  and 
Danish.  His  longer  stories,  hardly  elaborate  enough 
to  be  called  novels,  are  "  Prudence  Palfrey,"  "  The 
Queen  of  Sheba,"  and  "  The  Stillwater  Tragedy."  An 
appetizing  volume  of  sketches  of  European  travel  is 
called  "  From  Ponkapog  to  Pesth,"  the  journey  having 
begun  at  Ponkapog,  the  place  of  his  pretty  country 
home,  a  few  miles  from  Boston.  The  salient  qualities 
of  Aldrich's  prose,  well  described  by  Vedder,  are  "  a 
deftness  of  touch,  a  sureness  of  aim,  a  piquancy  of 
flavor,  a  playfulness  of  wit,  a  delicacy  of  humor,  that 
make  it  perfectly  delightful  reading.  Ko  other  of 
our  writers  has  caught  so  much  of  the  spirit  of  French 
prose,  save  Henry  James;  and  Aldrich  deserves  the 
praise  that,  while  he  has  learned  from  the  French 
all  that  they  have  to  teach,  he  has  still  remained 
essentially  American." 

A  collection  of  poems  appropriately  entitled  "  Cloth 
of  Gold  "  appeared  in  1874,  the  "  Proem. "  of  which 
describes  the  poet  as  one  who  — 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS 

deftly  weaves 

A  tissue  out  of  autumn  leaves, 
With  here  a  thistle,  there  a  rose. 

With  art  and  patience  thus  is  made 
The  poet's  perfect  Cloth  of  Gold. 

This  was  followed  by  "Flower  and  Thorn,"  "Mercedes," 
a  tragic  drama,  which  won  a  brief  success  on  the  stage 
in  1893,  "  Wyndham  Towers,"  a  long  narrative  poem, 
and  "  The  Sister's  Tragedy."  In  narrative  poetry  his 
skill  is  at  its  best  in  "  Friar  Jerome's  Beautiful  Book," 
a  beautifully  versified  tale,  enveloped  in  mediaeval 
atmosphere.  More  strength  is  found  in  "  Judith  and 
Holofernes,"  in  which  is  revived  after  a 
thousand  years  the  theme  of  a  Saxon  poet. 
The  qualities  of  his  genius  are  not  suited  to  long  com 
positions.  He  condenses  his  thought  and  focuses  it 
into  a  brilliant,  gleaming  point  of  expression ;  hence 
his  sonnets  are  excellent,  some  of  them,  as  Howells 
has  said,  worthy  of  being  numbered  among  "the  great 
sonnets  of  the  language."  He  compresses  poems  into 
epigrams,  life  stories  into  dainty  quatrains  — 

Four-line  epics  one  might  hide 
In  the  hearts  of  roses. 

But  that  his  powers  are  equal  to  more  sustained  lyrical 
efforts  in  the  higher  forms  is  shown  in  the  memorial 
ode,  "  Spring  in  New  England,"  one  of  the  finest 
poems  inspired  by  the  Civil  War.  The  closing  stanza, 
with  its  symbolic  picture  of  returning  peace  and  joy, 
suggests  Lowell's  spring  music :  — 


402  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Hark  !  'tis  the  bluebird's  venturous  strain 
High  on  the  old  fringed  elm  at  the  gate, 
Sweet-voiced,  valiant  on  the  swaying  bough, 

Alert,  elate, 

Dodging  the  fitful  spits  of  snow  — 
New  England's  poet  laureate 
Telling  us  spring  has  come  again ! 

Aldrich  is  our  master  miniature  painter  in  verse. 
No  other  American  poet  has  imposed  upon  himself 
such  rigid  restraints  of  perfect  workmanship.  If  large 
Artistic  things  have  not  been  attempted,  it  may 

Refinement  have  been  because  he  believes  in  the  su 
preme  beauty  of  small  things.  After  all,  a  dewdrop 
is  as  wonderful  as  the  ocean.  His  working  theory 

seems  to  be  expressed  in  a  quatrain  "  On  Reading " 

(it  may  have  been  Browning,  or  Whitman) :  — 

Great  thoughts  in  crude,  unshapely  verse  set  forth 
Lose  half  their  preciousness,  and  ever  must. 
Unless  the  diamond  with  its  own  rich  dust 
Be  cut  and  polished,  it  seems  little  worth. 

His  genius  is  well  rooted  in  the  New  England  soil, 
but  it  roams  freely  and  afar  in  search  of  sweet  and 
beautiful  things,  catching  often  the  warmth  and  color 
of  the  Eastern  sunshine.  Pervading  the  pure,  chill 
atmosphere  of  his  native  earth,  there  is  an  aroma  of 
Orient  spices  and  fruits  and  tropical  gums.  Of  this 
he  writes  in  the  sonnet  "  Reminiscence  "  :  — 

Though  I  am  native  to  this  frozen  zone 

That  half  the  twelvemonth  torpid  lies,  or  dead  ; 


n]  THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS  403 

Though  the  cold  azure  arching  overhead 

And  the  Atlantic's  never-ending  moan 

Are  mine  by  heritage,  I  must  have  known 

Life  otherwhere  in  epochs  long  since  fled  ; 

For  in  my  veins  some  Orient  blood  is  red, 

And  through  my  thoughts  are  lotus  blossoms  blown. 

The  poetry  of  Aldrich,  says  Lathrop,  "  is  the  poetry 
of  luxury  more  than  of  deep  passion,  or  profound  con 
viction  in  special  directions;  yet  it  is  spontaneous  as 
the  luxury  of  bud  and  tint  in  springtime.  His  predi 
lection  is  for  the  picturesque,  with  touches  of  fancy, 
occasional  lights  of  humor  so  reserved  and  critical 
so  dainty  that  they  never  disturb  the  pic-  Estimate 
torial  harmony,  tinges  of  Eastern  color,  and  hints  of 
distant  romance.  Sometimes  a  simple  miniature  picture 
without  incident  or  reflection  —  as  in  'The  Lunch'  — 
suffices  him.  Sometimes  it  is  a  little  narrative  finished 
with  microscopic  care,  sometimes  a  song,  light  as 
thistledown  and  swayed  by  a  passing  mood,  that 
engages  him.  But  always  the  same  artistic  conscience 
and  fastidious  nicety  in  expression  are  maintained." 
Between  his  poetry  and  that  of  Herrick  there  is  more 
than  a  passing  resemblance,  and  his  praise  of  the 
English  poet  might  well  return  to  himself,  for  his 
own  brief  lyrics,  not  less  than  Herrick's  lyric  gems, 
are  crystal  clear,  fresh  and  musical  as  brooks  in 

And  polished  as  the  bosom  of  a  star. 

Class  Study.  —  Baby  Bell ;    Before  the  Rain  ;    After  the 
Rain  ;   Nameless  Pain  ;   Sea  Longings  ;   The  Voice  of  the  Sea  ; 


404  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Sleep  ;  Friar  Jerome's  Beautiful  Book  ;  Appreciation  ;  Com 
edy  ;  Cradle  Song ;  Spring  in  New  England. 

Class  Reading.  —  Poetry :  Piscataqua  River ;  When  the 
Sultan  goes  to  Ispahan ;  Carpe  Diem ;  Footnotes :  A  Book  of 
Quatrains ;  Pursuit  and  Possession  ;  The  Undiscovered  Country  ; 
On  an  Intaglio  Head  of  Minerva ;  The  Guerdon  ;  A  Petition  ; 
Unsung ;  An  Old  Castle. 

Prose:  Marjorie  Daw,  and  Other  Stories;  Prudence  Pal 
frey. 

Biography  and  Criticism. — Vedder's  "American  Writers 
of  To-day."  Bolton's  "Famous  American  Authors."  Gilder's 
"Authors  at  Home."  Bayard  Taylor's  "Essays  and  Notes" 
and  "To  T.  B.  A.  and  L.  W."  Richardson's  "American 
Literature."  Critic,  Vol.  VIII  (George  P.  Lathrop). 


EDMUND   CLARENCE   STEDMAN 
1833- 

The  poet  and  critic,  Edmund  Clarence  Stedman, 
came  to  New  York  from  Hartford,  Conn.,  where  he 
was  born  in  1833.  At  Yale  College  he  held  high 
rank  in  Greek  and  English,  and  won  a  prize  with  a 
poem  on  "  Westminster  Abbey."  He  left  college 
without  graduating,  entered  journalism,  served  as  a 
war  correspondent,  and  worked  faithfully  in  news- 
paperdoni  for  twelve  years  before  he  fully  learned  the 

irreconcilable  difference  between  writing 
Journalism 

the  ephemeral  daily  "  story  "  for  the  light- 
minded  millions  and  building  "  the  lofty  rhyme  "  for 
that  "  fit  audience  though  few "  for  whose  praises 
every  true  poet  strives.  He  has  since  expressed  the 
judgment  that  "  if  a  poet  or  aspiring  author  must 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS  405 

labor  for  the  daily  subsistence  of  a  family,  it  is  well 
for  his  art  that  he  should  follow  some  other  calling 
than  journalism."  Meanwhile  he  published,  in  1860, 
"Poems,  Lyric  and  Idyllic,"  containing  the  original 
and  spirited  ballad  of  the  time,  "How  Old  Brown 
took  Harper's  Ferry  " ;  and  in  1864,  "  Alice  of  Mon- 
mouth,"  a  narrative  poem  of  the  war,  which  has  more 
claims  upon  popular  favor  than  merely  the  dashing 
"Cavalry  Song,"  which  alone  seems  to  have  sur 
vived. 

With  the  purpose,  doubtless,  of  obtaining  more 
surely  and  swiftly  the  coveted  leisure  for  literature, 
Stedman  began  business  in  Wall  Street  in  1864,  and 
there  he  remained  thirty-six  years,  the  "  Banker  Poet," 
whose  singing  voice  during  those  years  has  gradually 
died  away.  But  if  the  voice  of  the  poet  has  become 
silent,  the  voice  of  the  clear,  ripe-minded  critic  has 
been  heard  with  increasing  satisfaction.  The  Banker 
Valuable  as  are  some  of  his  lyrics,  drawn  Poet 
from  the  life  of  city  and  nation,  his  chief  contribution 
to  our  literature  is  likely  to  be  the  magnificent  body 
of  criticism  contained  in  "The  Victorian  Poets," 
"  The  Poets  of  America,"  and  "  The  Nature  and  Ele 
ments  of  Poetry."  These  three  volumes,  the  last  of 
which  was  originally  presented  as  a  course  of  lectures 
at  Johns  Hopkins  University,  constitute  a  critical 
history  of  English  poetry  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
supplemented  appropriately  by  a  profound  treatise  on 
the  theory  and  practice  of  the  poetic  art.  For 


406  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

breadth,  thoroughness,  and  completeness,  we  have 
nothing  to  surpass  or  to  equal  this  work. 

As  a  critic,  Stedman  is  clear  and  incisive  in  analy 
sis,  sympathetic  in  appreciation,  almost  unerring  in 
discriminating  the  beautiful  and  artistic,  eminently 
sane  and  just  in  his  conclusions,  always  stimulating 
and  helpful.  He  does  not  possess  the  style  of  Lowell, 

nor  the  rich  creative  thought  and  under- 
His  Criticism 

now  of  humor,  but  he  has  the  compensat 
ing  power  —  which  Lowell  did  not  have  —  to  plan 
and  execute  a  systematic  scheme  of  critical  work, 
maintaining  throughout  the  whole  a  remarkable  certi 
tude  and  equipoise  of  judgment.  If  he  has  a  fault,  it 
is  in  being  too  kind,  at  times  enveloping  his  subject 
in  "a  golden  atmosphere  of  generous  appreciation" 
that  tends  to  obscure  rather  than  disclose  the  naked 
truth.  For  any  serious  study  of  modern  poetry, 
these  volumes  of  critical  essays  are  now  indispensable. 
As  a  poet,  Stedman  has  not  kept  faith  with  the 
public  or  himself,  for  his  early  poetry  was  full  of 
promise.  It  showed  the  modern  composite  spirit,  sen 
sitive  to  the  appeal  of  culture  in  every  form,  and  a 
strict  regard  for  artistic  workmanship.  His  gift  was 

lyrical,  and  his  most  popular  poems  are 
His  Poetry 

the  patriotic  lyrics  called  forth  by  the  war. 

In  the  dark  days  of  1862,  when  the  Federal  armies 
were  falling  back  in  defeat  and  the  Northern  heart 
was  heavy  with  discouragement,  Stedman's  "  Wanted 
—  A  Man  "  rang  out  like  a  trumpet  call. 


ix]  THE    METROPOLITAN    WRITERS  407 

Give  us  a  man  of  God's  own  mold, 

Born  to  marshal  his  fellow-men  ; 
One  whose  fame  is  not  bought  and  sold 

At  the  stroke  of  a  politician's  pen  ; 

Give  us  the  man  of  thousands  ten, 
Fit  to  do  as  well  as  to  plan  ; 

Give  us  a  rallying-cry,  and  then, 
Abraham  Lincoln,  give  us  a  MAN. 

His  lyrics  in  lighter  vein,  such  as  "Pan  in  Wall 
Street,"  "Country  Sleighing,"  and  "Toujours  Amour," 
graceful,  musical,  and  humorous,  must  continue  to  be 
favorites.  And  of  the  serious  poems,  "Hawthorne" 
is  still  the  noblest  poetic  tribute  paid  to  the  memory 
of  "  The  One  New-Englander,"  a  poem  in  which  the 
author's  critical  and  imaginative  faculties  are  seen  in 
happy  combination;  descriptive  analysis  and  poetry 
are  finely  blended  in  such  stanzas  as  this  :  — 

Two  natures  in  him  strove 
Like  day  with  night,  his  sunshine  and  his  gloom. 

To  him  the  stern  forefathers'  creed  descended, 
The  weight  of  some  inexorable  Jove 
Prejudging  from  the  cradle  to  the  tomb  ; 

But  therewithal  the  lightsome  laughter  blended 
Of  that  Arcadian  sweetness  undismayed 

Which  finds  in  Love  its  law,  and  graces  still 
The  rood,  the  penitential  symbol  worn,  — 

Which  sees,  beyond  the  shade, 

The  Naiad  nymph  of  every  rippling  rill, 
And  hears  quick  Fancy  wind  her  willful  horn. 

Class  Reading.  —  How  Old  Brown  took  Harper's  Ferry  ;  Pan 
in  Wall  Street  ;  Wanted  —  A  Man  ;  Gettysburg  ;  Kearny 
at  Seven  Pines  ;  Cavalry  Song  ;  Toujours  Amour ;  Laura,  My 


408  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Darling ;  Surf  ;  Song  from  a  Drama  ;  Hawthorne  ;  The  Dis 
coverer  ;  The  Undiscovered  Country ;  The  Hand  of  Lincoln  ; 
Creole  Lover's  Song  ;  Guests  at  Yule. 

Biography  and  Criticism. — Vedder's  ''American  Writers." 
Bolton's  "Famous  American  Authors."  Richardson's  "Ameri 
can  Literature."  Taylor's  "Essays  and  Notes."  Bookman 
July,  1896  (Hamilton  W.  Mabie).  Halsey's  "American 
Authors  and  Their  Homes. ' '  Stoddard's  ' '  To  Edmund  Clarence 
Stedman." 

RICHARD   WATSON   GILDER 
1844- 

The  term  "  minor  poet "  always  implies  a  more  or 
less  invidious  comparison,  especially  when  applied  to 
the  younger  poets  who  may  yet  place  themselves  among 
the  great  ones.  Then,  too,  one  true  poem  is  enough 
to  make  a  poefc,  as  shown  in  the  case  of  Gray.  But  it 
is  difficult  so  to  refine  the  critical  faculty  as  to  see  that 
ultimate  rank  is  determined,  not  by  bulk  or  promi 
nence,  but  by  quality.  Among  the  later  poets  who 
have  promises  to  fulfill  is  Richard  Watson  Gilder,  the 
accomplished  editor  of  the  Century  Magazine,  whose 
first  volume,  "  The  New  Day  "  (1875),  revealed  a  poet 
A  Poet  of  °f  refined  feeling  and  delicate  workman- 
Refinement  ghjp  suggestive  of  a  literary  kinship  with 
Aldrich.  Of  this  volume  and  the  second  collection, 
"The  Poet  and  his  Master,"  Stedman  says:  "Each  is 
a  cluster  of  flawless  poems,  —  the  earlier  verse  marked 
by  the  mystical  beauty,  intense  emotion,  and  psycho 
logical  distinctions  of  the  select  illuminati.  He  appears 
to  have  studied  closely,  besides  the  most  ideal  English 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN    WRITERS  409 

verse,  the  Italian  sonnets  and  canzoni  which  ever 
deeply  impress  a  poet  of  exquisite  feeling.  An  indi 
vidual  tone  dominates  his  maturer  lyrical  efforts;  his 
aim  is  choice  and  high,  as  should  be  that  of  one  who 
decides  upon  the  claims  of  others." 

Class  Reading.  —  The  Sonnet ;  "  Rose  Dark  the  Solemn  Sun 
set";  Love's  Jealousy;  The  Voice  of  the  Pine;  Music  and 
Words;  How  Paderewski  Plays;  The  Sower;  "  Fades  the 
Rose";  On  the  Life  Mask  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Associated  with  the  metropolitan  poets  by  kindred  tastes  or 
personal  friendship  are  several  verse-makers,  who  deserve  some 
studious  attention  for  the  sake  of  a  few  notable  poems  that  we 
could  not  afford  to  lose.     With  Taylor  are   associated   three 
Pennsylvania  poets.      Thomas    Buchanan  Read   (1822-1872), 
painter,  as  well  as  poet,  will  always  be  known  by 
his    "Sheridan's   Ride,"    although   other   poems,       mor 
like  "  Drifting,"  better  prove  his  qualities.    George 
Henry  Boker  (1823-1890)  won  the  almost  unique  distinction  in 
America  of  writing  plays  of  real  literary  merit,  one  of  which 
at  least,   "Francesca  da  Rimini,"  has  attained  wide  success 
upon  the  stage.     Charles  Godfrey  Leland  (1824-1903),  an  au 
thority  upon  gypsy  lore,  is  known  chiefly  as  the  author  of  the 
"  Hans  Breitman  Ballads,"  written  in  the  dialect  of  the  Penn 
sylvania  Dutch. 

The  older  writers  in  New  York  still  recall  the  delightful  liter 
ary  receptions  at  the  home  of  Alice  (1820-1871)  and  Phoebe 
(1824-1871)  Gary,  whose  poems  of  sentiment  and  the  domestic 
affections  are  sweet  and  tender,  if  not  highly  poetical.  One  of 
Phoebe's  earliest  poems,  "  Nearer  Home  "  ("One  sweetly  solemn 
thought")  has  reached  a  world-wide  popularity.  Somewhat 
similar  is  the  work  of  Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe  (1819-  ),  the 
author  of  our  great  war  lyric,  the  "Battle  Hymn  of  the  Repub 
lic."  This  poem  recalls  another  patriotic  singer,  who  has  been 
unworthily  neglected,  the  author  of  the  '-Bay  Fight,"  Henry 


410  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Howard  Brownell  (1820-1872),  whose  "fine  Norse-hearted 
poems"  Lowell  commended.  Among  the  later  poets  of  the 
metropolis  who  are  distinguished  especially  for  the  art  sense,  is 
Edgar  Fawcett  (1847-  ),  whose  collections  of  verses,  "Fan 
tasy  and  Passion  "  and  "  Song  and  Story,"  are  likely  to  outlive 
his  many  works  of  fiction.  The  dramatic  critic,  graceful  essay 
ist  and  poet,  William  Winter  (183G-  ),  shows  in  his  little 
collection,  "  Wanderers  "  (1888),  a  sweet  and  true  lyric  spirit, 
summoned  to  its  most  felicitous  expression  in  elegiac  and  com 
memorative  verses.  He  may  be  justly  regarded  as  belonging, 
as  he  himself  desires,  "to  that  old  school  of  English  lyrical 
poetry,  of  which  gentleness  is  the  soul  and  simplicity  is  the 
garment." 

Among  poets  affected  predominantly  by  the  life  of  large 
cities,  there  is  a  natural  tendency  to  cultivate  that  graceful 
form  of  poetry,  called  somewhat  vaguely,  "  Vers  de  Socie'te'." 
Poems  of  this  type  must  be  short,  refined,  and  fanciful ;  play 
ful  rather  than  serious  in  tone,  though  often  sounding  notes  of 
pathos    and    the  deeper  sentiments ;    crisp  and 
ers    e  sparkling  in  rhythm,  with  frequent  rhymes  ;  seem 

ingly  spontaneous,  though  fashioned  with  deft  and 
delicate  workmanship  ;  touching  lightly  the  gay,  fashionable, 
brilliant,  trivial,  humorous,  or  sober  topics  that  make  up  the 
staple  of  social  converse.  In  London,  Praed,  Locker,  Thack 
eray,  Calverley,  and  Dobson  represent  this  art  of  elegant 
trifling  with  verse,  and  in  America  its  perfect  master  is  Dr. 
Holmes.  John  Godfrey  Saxe  (1816-1887),  once  a  familial- 
figure  in  New  York  society,  wrote  humorous  and  popular  verse, 
much  of  which  was  in  this  vein.  Such  verse  is  well  repre 
sented  by  Aldrich's  "On  an  Intaglio  Head  of  Minerva,"  Sted- 
man's  "Toujours  Amour,"  Lowell's  "Without  and  Within." 
Several  of  the  younger  verse-makers  have  shown  a  delightful 
aptitude  for  these  dainty  trifles,  adopting  often  the  old  French 
forms,  the  ballade,  rondeau,  triolet,  and  vilanelle.  Such  are 
H.  C.  Bunner's  "Airs  from  Arcady,"  Samuel  Minturn  Peck's 
"Cap  and  Bells,"  Frank  Dempster  Sherman's  "Madrigals  and 
Catches,"  and  Clinton  Scollard's  "  With  Reed  and  Lyre." 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN    WRITERS  411 


THE   ESSAYISTS 

The  essay  as  a  distinct  form  of  literary  expression 
has  been  seriously  affected,  if  not  almost  effaced,  by 
modern  journalism.  In  place  of  the  deliberate, 
thoughtful,  and  artistic  treatment  of  topics  vitally 
related  to  the  pursuits  or  convictions  of  the  writers, 
we  have  "  articles,"  sketchy,  gossipy,  critical,  statistical, 
or  paradoxical  —  anything  to  catch  public  attention 
and  fill  the  time  between  railway  stations.  Too  gener 
ally,  the  studious  essayist  has  given  way  to 

The  Essay 

the  trained  journalist,  who  watches  the  in-  and  jour- 
clinations  of  the  public,  as  a  sailor  watches  nalism 
a  shifty  wind,  guiding  his  pen,  not  by  his  own  inde 
pendent  and  sincere  thinking,  but  by  the  ephemeral 
and  spasmodic  thinking  of  the  multitudes  for  whom 
he  caters.  Such  writers  develop  remarkable  alertness 
and  versatility,  and  dash  off  "timely"  articles  for  the 
daily  newspapers  or  the  monthly  magazine  with  skill, 
and  often  with  suggestions  of  literary  qualities.  But 
little  of  this  writing  survives  as  literature.  A  pathetic 
illustration  of  this  prodigal  use  of  the  literary  gift  is 
seen  in  the  meager  prose  product  of  Taylor  and  Stod- 
dard,  hundreds  of  whose  articles  passed  swiftly  into 
oblivion  with  the  event  that  called  them  forth. 

Essays  may  be  loosely  classified  as  critical,  historical, 
and  miscellaneous.  The  first  class  is  represented  by 
Matthew  Arnold  and  Lowell.  Since  Stedman's  two 
priceless  volumes,  we  have  had  little  of  worth  in  this 


412  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

class,  for  the  perfunctory  "  book  -review"  seldom 
reaches  the  dignity  of  criticism.  For  the  second  class 
Three  stands  Macaulay,  with  whom  thus  far  we 

classes  have  no  one  in  America  to  keep  fellowship. 

The  third  class  includes  the  versatile  and  vivacious 
writers  who  treat  with  ease  and  grace  social,  moral, 
aesthetic,  literary,  or  humorous  themes,  wisely  but 
not  learnedly,  with  a  light  touch,  but  with  a  sure  pur 
pose,  aiming  at  the  human  rather  than  the  intellectual 
side  of  life.  Between  the  "  Spectator  "  and  the  "  Auto 
crat"  there  is  a  true  kinship,  notwithstanding  the 
intervening  range  and  variety  of  essay  writing.  The 
philosophical  essays  of  Emerson  hardly  constitute  a 
class,  being  in  reality  a  system  of  philosophy  in  frag 
ments,  and  their  chief  influence  being  exerted  inde 
pendently  of  their  philosophy. 

The  periodical  essay  of  the  eighteenth-century  type 
was  attempted  in  Dana's  "Idle  Man,"  Irving' s  "Sal 
magundi,"  and  Mitchell's  "  Lorgnette."  But  with  the 
growth  of  the  monthly  magazines  the  essay  naturally 
took  its  place  with  poems  and  stories  in  the  monthly 
menu.  In  the  early  days  of  the  monthlies,  the 
days  of  Putnam's  Magazine,  the  Galaxy,  and  the 
The  Atlantic,  before  the  "  process "  picture 

Magazines  ^^  j-,een  discovered  and  the  "illustrated" 
magazine  with  text  written  to  illustrate  the  illustra 
tions  had  been  devised,  authors  contributed  to  the 
periodicals  essays  from  their  richest  literary  resources. 
And  to  the  magazines  we  still  have  to  look,  among  the 


IX] 


THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS 


413 


pictures  and  the  "  timely "  sensations,  for  occasional 
essays  of  the  true  type.  Among  the  essayists  espe 
cially  associated  with  the  magazines,  a  unique  and  com 
manding  position  was  held  by  George  William  Curtis, 
the  lineal  literary  descendant  of  Addison,  Lamb,  and 
Irving. 

GEORGE    WILLIAM   CURTIS 
1824-1892 

Like  so  many  of  the  New  York  writers,  Curtis  was 
a  New  Englander,  born  in  Providence  in  1824.  Rem 
iniscences  of  his  early 
school-days  at  Jamaica 
Plain,  near  Boston,  appear 
in  his  novel "  Trumps."  At 
fifteen  New  York  became 
his  permanent  home.  Two 
years,  from  eighteen  to 
twenty,  he  spent  at  Brook 
Farm,  having  imbibed  the 
idealism  of  the  Transcen- 
dentalists  from  Emerson's 
lectures.  Here  he  studied 
German  and  music  with 
great  zest,  drove  the  cows 


George  William  Curtis 


with  Hawthorne,  trimmed  the  lamps  at  the  "Eyrie," 
and  with  chivalrous  courtesy  hung  out  the  clothes  for 
the  women  on  stormy  washing  days  in  winter.  The 
qualities  that  characterized  his  whole  life  were  im- 


414  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

pressed  at  this  time  upon  the  memories  of  his  com 
panions,  generous-heartedness,  refinement,  zeal  for 
Educational  knowledge  and  culture,  isane  and  eager 
Experiences  idealism.  The  elegance  of  his  personal 
manners  is  recalled,  and  his  personal  beauty  —  the 
beauty  of  a  "  young  Greek  god." 

The  influence  of  Emerson  drew  him  to  Concord, 
where  he  spent  a  year,  dividing  his  time  between 
farming  and  study,  and  confirming  his  ideals  of  life  by 
contact  with  the  poets  and  philosophers  who  gathered 
weekly  in  Emerson's  library.  Here  he  would  wander, 
he  says,  "in  the  soft,  sunny  spring,  in  the  silent  Con 
cord  meadows,"  or  sit  "  in  the  great,  cool  barn  through 
the  long,  still,  golden  afternoons,  and  read  the  history 
of  Rome."  His  "budding  hopes"  were  now  turning 
toward  the  Old  World,  and  in  1846  he  went  to  Europe, 
and  there  spent  four  years,  including  Palestine  and 
the  Nile  in  his  studious  and  leisurely  wanderings. 
This  experience,  which  closed  the  formative  period  of 
his  life,  was  an  admirable  preparation  for  the  broad 
career  awaiting  him  in  the  promotion  of  culture.  "  I 
find  that  my  European  life,"  he  noted  in  his  diary, 
"has  taught  me  a  cosmopolitanism  which  I  could 
never  have  learned  at  home." 

The  literary  career  of  Curtis  began  upon  his  return 
from  Europe  with  the  publication  in  1851  of  the  "  Nile 
Notes  of  a  Howadji,"  followed  by  "The  Howadji  in 
Syria."  Hawthorne  wrote  :  "  I  see  now  that  you  are 
forever  an  author."  So  it  proved,  for  the  pen  was 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS  415 

never  afterward  laid  aside.  In  these  books,  he  says, 
"I  aimed  to  represent  the  essentially  sensuous,  luxu 
rious,  laijguM.  and  sense-satisfying  spirit  Beginning  of 
of  Eastern  life,"  and  to  this  purpose  he  Authorship 
adapted  the  style,  ornate  to  excess,  brilliant  with  an 
artificial  beauty,  like  the  scenery  of  a  stage-play, 
appropriate  however  to  the  romantic  scenes  for  which 
it  serves  as  a  background  or  reflecting  medium.  The 
language  is  like  a  fabric  of  Persian  colors,  shot  with 
tinsel  of  gold,  and  charged  with  the  perfume  of  cassia 
and  magnolia  bloom.  It  was  the  first  flower  of  rich, 
imaginative  youth,  opening  under  the  warm,  sense- 
charming  influences  of  the  East.  Associated  with 
these  books,  through  the  title  and  somewhat  also  in 
the  style,  was  "  Lotus-Eating,"  a  series  of  light 
sketches  of  the  fashionable  American  summer  resorts, 
interesting  still  as  a  picture  of  social  life  now  extinct. 
In  1853  came  the  "  Potiphar  Papers,"  a  ' '  Potiphar 
caustic  satire  upon  the  ostentatious  society  ,  ,a£^  ' 
of  the  period  in  New  York.  Three  years  andi" 
later  appeared  "  Prue  and  I,"  a  "  singularly  perfect 
production,"  the  graceful  and  luminous  expression  of 
an  ideal  philosophy  for  everyday  use.  The  separate 
papers  first  appeared  in  Putnam's  Magazine,  and  a 
contemporary  thus  recalls  them :  "  When  we  received 
one  of  them  we  chirruped  over  it,  as"  if  by  some 
strange  merit  of  our  own  we  had  entrapped  a  sun 
beam."  And  readers  will  still  find  sunbeams  in  this 
delicious  little  volume  of  old-fashioned  wisdom.  Here 


416  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

was  the  real  Curtis  as  he  was  ever  after  known  and 
loved  in  literature  and  life;  here  we  recognize  the 
gentle  smile,  the  melodious  voice,  the^asy  urbanity 
and  incomparable  gentlernanliness  of  the  philosopher 
of  the  "  Easy  Chair."  Here,  too,  the  writing  reached 
perfection.  "The  opulence  and  extravagance  of  the 
'Howadji'  books  disappear;  but  the  rich. imagination, 
the  sportive  fancy,  the  warm  and  life-giving  senti 
ment,  the  broad  philosophy  are  expressed  in  a  style 
of  singular  beauty,  flexibility,  and  strength."  Here 
was  the  fine-grained,  large-hearted  champion  of  the 
true,  the  pure,  and  the  good,  of  whom  Lowell  wrote :  — 

Whose  humor's  honeyed  ease 
Flows  flecked  with  gold  of  thought, 

Whose  generous  mind 
Sees  Paradise  regained  by  all  mankind. 

Curtis  took  charge  of  the  "  Easy  Chair  "  in  Harper's 
Monthly  in  1854,  and  became  editor  of  Harper's  Weekly 
in  1863 ;  these  positions  he  held  uninterruptedly  until 
his  death  in  1892 ;  the  first  was  in  line  with  his 
development  as  a  student  and  man  of  letters,  the  sec 
ond  represented  a  totally  different  field  in  which  a 

large  part  of  his  energy  was  spent,  the 
A  Reformer  °  v 

work  of  political  reform.  He  early  be 
came  a  popular  lyceum  lecturer,  and  took  an  active 
part  in  the  antislavery  agitation.  He  then  became  a 
reformer,  and  a  reformer  he  remained  all  his  life. 
The  second  volume  of  "  Orations  and  Addresses "  is 
perhaps  the  most  important  record  of  recent  political 


ix]  THE    METROPOLITAN   WRITERS  417 

life  in  America  that  we  possess.  It  contains  the 
finest  addresses  of  Curtis  upon  the  subject  of  political 
reform,  to  which  he  gave  the  best  of  his  thought  and 
energy  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life ;  and 
it  might  well  serve  as  a  national  textbook  of  political 
right-mindedness.  Curtis  was  made  chairman  of  the 
first  Civil  Service  Commission,  appointed  by  Presi 
dent  Grant,  and  from  that  time  he  was  the  recognized 
leader  of  the  civil  service  reform  movement.  For  this 
new  cause  he  fought  as  he  had  fought  for  emancipa 
tion,  believing  the  tyranny  of  the  politician  second 
only  to  the  tyranny  of  the  slave  driver  in  its  baneful 
effects  upon  public  morals  and  national  character.  In 
his  public  addresses  he  always  aimed  "  to  set  forth  a 
high  ideal,  to  apply  it  to  some  duty  actually  pressing, 
and  to  stir  and  strengthen  the  hearts  of  his  hearers 
for  the  task  the  duty  imposed."  He  was  an  idealist, 
but  his  idealism  was  tempered  by  a  well-informed 
judgment  that  placed  more  importance  upon  the  im 
provement  of  actual  conditions  than  upon  the  creation 
of  ideal  conditions.  "  Zealous  he  was,"  says  his  bi 
ographer,  "  in  the  noblest  and  completest  fashion,  but 
never  a  zealot,  not  blind  nor  rash,  nor  obstinate,  nor 
conceited.  He  was  as  anxious  to  be  right  as  he  was 
determined  in  what,  with  an  open  mind,  he  had  de 
cided  to  be  right." 

Unlike  most  political  orations  Curtis's  orations  are 
literature,  full  of  the  fruits  of  scholarship,  permeated 
with  the  literary  spirit,  and  composed  in  a  style  care- 

2E 


418  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

fully  polished,  yet  free  from  every  artifice  of  the  "  ora 
torical"  manner.  He  aimed  at  effects  through  the 

simple  impression  of  thought ;  hence  there 
Orations  .  , 

is  no  loss  in  the  reading  except  the  per 
suasive  charm  of  the  speaker' s  personality,  the  sense 
of  sincerity  and  fairness  expressed  in  his  manner,  and 
the  power  of  an  exquisite  voice  modulated  like  a  musi 
cal  instrument  to  every  varying  tone  of  thought  and 
sentiment.  Among  his  finest  public  addresses  are 
those  delivered  upon  memorial  occasions,  such  as  the 
splendid  tribute  to  Lowell,  his  last  public  utterance. 

Curtis's  literary  influence  was  exerted  mainly 
through  those  unique  and  charming  chats  from  the 
"  Easy  Chair."  Art,  music,  literature,  history,  higher 
politics,  society  shams,  personal  anecdote,  and  remi 
niscence,  furnished  topics.  They  are  lay-sermons  in 
little,  always  gracious  and  graceful,  abounding  in 
wholesome  criticism,  sound  sense,  and  true  feeling, 
always  stimulating  the  impulses  toward  a  higher  life 
of  refinement  and  culture.  The  style  is  the  style  of 
"The Easy  the  man,  talking  easily  with  his  thousands 
Chair  •  •  of  listeners,  with  candor  and  courtesy,  with 

a  fine  respect  for  the  susceptibilities  of  his  hearers, 
teaching  and  preaching  without  betraying  any  signs 
of  teacher  or  preacher,  always  serious  yet  always 
genial.  No  reader  ever  entered  the  presence  of  the 
"  Easy  Chair  "  without  feeling  the  effects  of  a  peculiar 
warm,  sunny,  inspiring  atmosphere  of  refinement. 
Hundreds  of  these  little  essays  were  written  during 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS  419 

a  period  of  more  than  thirty -five  years,  but  it  was  the 
severe  judgment  of  the  author  that  only  a  few  were 
worthy  of  republication  in  permanent  form.  Three 
small  volumes  have  been  selected  "From  the  Easy 
Chair."  These  with  three  volumes  of  "  Orations  and 
Addresses,"  and  a  volume  of  "  Literary  and  Social 
Essays  "  represent  his  maturer  literary  labors.  One 
feels  it  to  be  a  pity  that  such  gifts  did  not  find 
broader  literary  expression  in  permanent  form.  His 
patriotism  compelled  him  to  subordinate  literature, 
yet  the  effect  of  his  literary  work,  though  diffused  and 
indefinable,  has  nevertheless  been  real.  "He  ren 
dered  to  American  literature,"  says  Gary,  "a  service 
unrecognized  and  imtraceable,  but  singularly,  perhaps 
iTiiiquely,  great." 

Class  Reading.  —  Prue  and  I ;  Essays  from  the  Easy  Chair, 
First  Series  ;  Oration  on  Wendell  Phillips. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  Gary's  "  Life  of  George  William 
Curtis"  (American  Men  of  Letters).  William  Winter's 
"George  William  Curtis:  A  Eulogy."  Chadwick's  "George 
William  Curtis."  Godwin's  "Commemorative  Addresses." 
Ilowells's  "My  Literary  Passions."  Lowell's  "Epistle  to 
George  William  Curtis."  Cranch's  "To  G.W.C." 

THOMAS   WENTWORTH  HIGGINSON 
1823- 

Associated  with  Curtis  through  a  moral  and  literary 
kinship  is  Thomas  Wentvvorth  Higginson,  a  loyal  son 
of  Massachusetts,  the  inheritor  of  some  of  the  best 


420  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

virtues,  as  well  as  two  of  the  best  names  of  the 
Puritans.  Like  Curtis,  Higginson  received  from  the 
Transcendentalists  a  strong  impulse  toward  idealism 

and  reform.  Throughout  his  varied  career 
A  Reformer 

as  an  extreme  antislavery  agitator,  Unita 
rian  minister,  colonel  of  the  first  black  regiment  in 
the  Civil  War,  champion  of  woman's  rights,  popular 
lecturer,  historian,  essayist,  poet,  —  in  every  form  of 
public  activity  or  literary  industry  his  work  exhibits 
the  lofty  spiritual  ideals  that  characterize  the  Cam 
bridge  group  of  writers  with  whom  he  was  associated 
in  lifelong  and  friendly  companionship. 

Higginson  remarks  somewhere  that  "  positive  force 
of  writing  or  of  speech  must  come  from  positive 
sources  —  ardor,  energy,  depth  of  feeling  or  of 
Literary  thought."  This  force,  together  with  an 
Work  admirable  style,  is  found  in  his  essays, 

"  Out-door  Papers,"  "  Atlantic  Essays,"  and  "  Oldport 
Days,"  and  in  his  excellent  novel  of  New  England 
life,  "  Malbone,  an  Oldport  Romance."  In  these  vol 
umes  there  is  a  pleasant  and  healthy  mingling  of  the 
beauties  of  nature  with  the  beauties  of  books.  Essen 
tially  a  man  of  letters,  yet  he  seeks  his  best  inspira 
tion  in  the  fields  and  woods  from  the  "  sculptured 
chalices  of  the  mountain  laurel"  and  the  "clear,  calm, 
interrupted  chant  of  the  wood-thrush,  falling  like 
solemn  waterdrops  from  some  source  above."  His 
many  volumes,  into  the  latest  of  which,  especially, 
is  written  much  of  himself  and  of  the  history  of  his 


ixj  THE   METROPOLITAN    WRITERS  421 

time,  as  in  "  Cheerful  Yesterdays  "  and  "  Contempo 
raries/'  though  lacking  the  element  of  greatness,  are 
sure  of  a  place  among  the  best  on  our  shelves,  by 
virtue  of  their  conscientious  fidelity  to  high  standards 
of  literature  and  life. 

Class   Reading. — The    Procession   of    the   Flowers;    April 
Days ;  A  Charge  with  Prince  Rupert ;   The  Puritan  Minister. 


CHARLES   DUDLEY    WARNER 
1829-1900 

One  of  our  most  popular  essayists  is  Charles  Dudley 
Warner,  who  in  the  intervals  of  leisure  permitted 
by  a  long  editorial  career  produced  a  dozen  volumes 
of  prose  possessing  a  distinctive  flavor  that  always 
pleases  the  cultivated  taste.  He  was  born  in  Plain- 
field,  Mass.,  in  1829,  graduated  from  Hamilton  College, 
practiced  law  a  few  years  in  Chicago,  and  in  1860 
became  the  editor  of  the  Hartford  Press,  afterward 
of  the  Coiirant.  In  1870  appeared  "  My  Summer  in  a 
Garden,"  a  book  which,  as  the  London  Humorous 
Quarterly  generously  admitted,  "Charles  Essay8 
Lamb  might  have  written  if  he  had  had  a  garden." 
Its  finished  style,  illusive  suggestiveness,  and  delicate 
humor  fixed  the  author's  reputation  at  once  as  an 
American  humorist  of  the  higher  type.  "Saunter- 
ings  "  followed  in  1872,  a  collection  of  graphic  Euro 
pean  sketches,  in  which,  as  Whipple  said,  "he  not 


422  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

merely  addresses  his  readers ;  he  takes  them  with 
him."  His  first  literary  triumph  was  repeated  with 
"Backlog  Studies,"  a  series  of  sparkling  conversations 
in  the  light  of  the  evening  fire,  on  love,  literature, 
and  questions  of  the  day. 

Warner's  descriptions  of  travel,  in  his  own  and 
other  lands,  are  characterized  by  the  bright  and  play 
ful  fancy  and  genial  humor  of  the  essays.  "  My  Win 
ter  on  the  Nile"  and  "In  the  Levant"  belong  with 
Books  of  the  "  Howadji "  books  of  Curtis.  One  feels 
Travel;  jn  rea(}ing  ^[s  autobiographic  "Being  a 

Humor  Boy,"  that  it  was  well  worth  while  to  have 

endured  the  austerities  of  a  Puritan  boyhood  in  order 
to  be  enabled  to  write  such  a  book.  The  "Life  of 
Washington  Irving"  is  a  judicious  piece  of  biographi 
cal  and  critical  work  of  much  value.  His  last  books, 
the  novels  "  Their  Pilgrimage,"  "  A  Little  Journey  in 
the  World,"  and  "The  Golden  House,"  though  pos 
sessing  the  characteristic  graces  of  his  earlier  manner, 
in  the  lack  of  constructive  power  and  in  the  interest 
of  detached  scenes,  show  that  the  most  natural  vehicle 
of  his  thought  was  the  essay.  As  a  humorist  his  quali 
ties,  as  defined  by  Eichardson,  make  his  place  secure 
among  humorists  of  the  finest  type.  "  His  humor  is 
not  wit ;  he  pleases  by  the  diffused  light  which  illu 
minates  his  writings  on  various  themes,  not  by  any 
startling  or  sensational  effect.  American  humor,  as 
displayed  in  his  masterpiece,  '  My  Summer  in  a  Gar 
den,'  is  shown  in  its  better  estate.  Warner's  intel- 


ix]  THE    METROPOLITAN    WRITERS  423 

lectual  kinship   is  with  Irving,  Curtis,  and  Holmes, 
not  with  Artemus  Ward  or  Mark  Twain." 

Class  Reading.  —  My  Summer  in  a  Garden  ;  Backlog  Studies. 


DONALD   GRANT   MITCHELL 
1822 

A  pleasant  aroma  hangs  about  the  queer  signature 
"Ik  Marvel,"  like  that  of  crushed  rose  petals  in  an 
old  volume  of  poetry.  The  "  Reveries  of  a  Bachelor  " 
and  "Dream  Life,"  lightly  connected  sketches  and 
reminiscences  in  the  form  of  essays  rather  than  of 
stories,  are  books  for  the  young  of  all 

A  Pl63.S3.nt 

ages.     If  they  are  somewhat  old-fashioned  Sentiment- 
in  style  and  sentiment,  they  are  still  inter 
esting  to  every  one  who  is  not  ashamed  of  indulging 
the  softer  side  of  his  nature  occasionally  with  fancy 
and  feeling.     They  are  summer  afternoon  books,  full 
of   the   romance,    sentiment,    and    dreamy,   rose-hued 
thoughts    of   youth ;    out  of   tune  with  the   realistic 
literature  of  to-day,  but  ever  in  tune  with  genuine, 
imaginative,  and  spontaneous  natures,  uncontaminated 
by  the  bitterness  and  disillusionments  of  real  life. 

Donald  G.  Mitchell  began  his  literary  career  with 
the  satirical  sketches  of  New  York  society  in  the 
"  Lorgnette,"  in  the  manner  of  the  "  Potiphar  Papers." 
He  early  chose  the  life  of  country  quiet,  building  his 
home,  "Edgewood,"  on  a  farm  near  ISTew  Haven, 
Conn.,  and  combining  the  love  of  books  and  the 


424  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

love  of  nature  in  practical  farming.  "  My  Farm  of 
Edgewood,"  "Wet  Days  at  Edgewood,"  and  "Rural 
Studies  "  are  the  literary  product  of  this  bucolic  life. 
Some  one  has  called  him  "the  Horatian  classic  of 
American  letters."  His  chatty  volumes  of  "  English 
Lands,  Letters,  and  Kings  "  and  "  American  Lands  and 
Letters,"  while  of  little  value  as  original  contributions 
to  literature,  are  pleasing  records  of  the  literary  di 
versions  of  one  who  in  old  age  does  not  lose  any  of 
his  young  enthusiasm  for  books.  In  spirit  and  style 
Mitchell  belongs  to  the  school  of  Irving.  "There  is 
the  same  genial,  sympathetic  attitude  toward  his 
readers ;  the  same  tenderness  of  feeling ;  and  in  style 
that  gentle  elaboration,  and  that  careful,  high-bred 
English  which  contrasts  so  strikingly  with  the 
brusque,  nervous  manner  now  in  fashion." 

Class   Reading.  —  Reveries  of   a  Bachelor ;    Wet  Days   at 
Edgewood. 

To  the  period  of  sentimental  and  didactic  writing  belong  the 
voluminous  works  of  Josiah  Gilbert  Holland,  the  first  editor  of 
Scribner^s  Monthly.     He  wrote  pleasant  stories  in 

VerS6'  ~~  "  Bitter  Sweet"  and  "Katrina,"— and 
1810-1881  pleasant  novels,  —  "Arthur  Bonnicastle  "  and 

"Sevenoaks," —  and  several  volumes  of  essays  of 
a  mild  didactic  character,  such  as  "  Timothy  Titcomb's  Letters 
to  Young  People,"  "Lessons  in  Life,"  "Gold-foil  hammered 
from  Popular  Proverbs."  He  moralized  everything  that  he 
wrote,  using  a  simple  and  homely  style,  befitting  the  common 
place  topics  of  his  essays  and  the  common-place  people  to  whom 
he  addressed  himself.  For  a  time  his  works  were  immensely 
popular,  and  nothing  better  marks  the  swift  change  of  literary 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS  425 

tastes  and  ideals  within  a  single  generation  than  the  compara 
tive  oblivion  into  which  Holland's  works  have  fallen. 

Criticism  was  for  many  years  vigorously  represented  in 
the  magazines  by  Richard  Grant  White  (1821-1885),  whose 
"  Shakspere's  Scholar,"  "Studies  in  Shakspere,"  "Words 
and  Their  Uses,"  and  "  Everyday  English"  show 

a  lively  aptitude  for  bookish  discussion,  the  value    _ss*y.8  in 

Criticism 
of  which  is  often  sacrificed  to  the  author's  self- 

assertiveness.  White's  chief  service  to  Shaksperian  criticism 
was  in  rebuking  the  excesses  of  annotation  and  conjectural 
readings.  A  more  sane  and  helpful  Shaksperian  critic  was 
Henry  Norman  Hudson  (1814-1886),  whose  "Life,  Art,  and 
Characters  of  Shakspere"  is  a  standard  work  of  great  value. 
The  greatest  monument  to  American  esteem  for  Shakspere  is 
Horace  Howard  Furness's  "Variorum"  edition  of  the  plays. 
Lounsbury's  (18.38-  )  scholarly  and  exhaustive  "  Studies  in 
Chaucer"  shows  the  high  standard  reached  in  philological 
work.  Philology  is  finely  represented  by  James  Hadley's 
(1821-1872)  "Essays,  Philological  and  Critical,"  and  by 
William  Dwight  Whitney's  (1827-1894)  "Oriental  and  Lin 
guistic  Studies"  and  "  The  Life  and  Growth  of  Language."  In 
the  wider  field  of  criticism  Edwin  Percy  Whipple  (1819-1886) 
stands  quite  alone  as  a  writer  who  made  criticism  his  profes 
sional  life-work.  He  gave  dignity  and  scholarly  worth  to 
American  critical  writing,  and  such  volumes  as  "Literature 
of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth,"  "Literature  and  Life,"  and  "Ameri 
can  Literature  and  Other  Papers  "  are  eminent  for  clear  analy 
sis,  pointed  and  vigorous  style,  and  sane  judgment.  Although 
literary  criticism  tends  to  deteriorate  into  the  hasty  "book 
reviewing,"  and  no  writer  now  devotes  himself  to  this  form  of 
writing  with  the  exclusive  thoroughness  of  Whipple  or  Stedman, 
yet  its  seriousness  as  a  department  of  prose  writing  is  sustained 
by  an  occasional  volume,  exhibiting  scholarly  care  in  analysis 
and  interpretation.  Such  are  Henry  James's  "French  Poets 
and  Novelists,"  Howells's  "Modern  Italian  Poets,"  Boyesen's 
"Essays  on  German  Literature,"  Lodge's  "Historical  and 
Political  Essays,"  and  Woodberry's  "  Makers  of  Literature." 


426 


AMERICAN   LITERATURE 


[CHAP. 


WALT    WHITMAN 
1819-1892 

To  the  metropolitan  group  of  writers  may  as  well  be 
assigned  the  unclassifiable  and  unprecedented  writer, 

Walt  Whitman,  who  called 
himself  a  "  Manhattanese," 
and  boastfully  claimed  to 
be  a  representative  of  the 
nation,  whom  a  few  devoted 
followers  regard  as  a  prod 
igy  of  genius,  and  whom  the 
greater  number  of  his  readers 
regard  as  a  prodigious  liter 
ary  freak.  A  study  of  this 
unsatisfactory  personality 
%  affords  a  valuable  lesson  in 
the  fallibility  and  perversity 
of  literary  criticism.  Bur 
roughs  declares  Whitman  to 

be  "the  most  imposing  and  significant  figure  in  our 
literary  annals,"  and  a  more  recent  critic 
sees  in  him  "a  most  horrid  mountebank 
and  ego-maniac"  who  "has  given  utterance 
to  the  soul  of  the  tramp";  Stedman  numbers  him 
"  among  the  foremost  lyric  and  idyllic  poets,"  while 
Lanier  finds  him  to  be  merely  "  poetry's  butcher," 
who  offers  as  food  only  "huge  raw  collops  cut  from 


Walt  Whitman 


A  Trouble 
some 
Character 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS  427 

the  rump  of  poetry,  and  never  mind  gristle."  We 
might,  perhaps,  without  serious  violence  to  our  record, 
take  Whitman  at  his  word  when  he  warns  his  readers 
not  to  regard  his  verses  "  as  a  literary  performance,  or 
attempt  at  such  performance."  But  such  is  the  per 
sistency  with  which  the  quality  of  greatness  has  been 
thrust  upon  him  by  eminent  writers  whose  critical 
sanity  is  elsewhere  above  suspicion,  it  is  necessary  to 
reckon  with  this  singular  character  and  set  forth  if 
possible  his  true  qualities. 

Whitman's  writing  was  in  a  peculiar  way  an  inti 
mate  part  of  his  life.  "  I  celebrate  myself,  and  sing 
myself,"  he  veraciously  declared.  He  was  born  at 
West  Hills,  Long  Island,  in  1819,  and  died  in  Cam- 
den,  K.  J.,  in  1892.  From  early  years  his  life  seems  to 
have  been  a  free  and  easy  one,  unrestrained  ^  vagrant 
by  social  duties  or  professional  ambition.  Life 
"  I  loaf  and  invite  my  soul,"  he  says,  "  I  lean  and  loaf 
at  my  ease."  He  learned  printing  and  carpentry ; 
lived  some  years  in  Brooklyn,  where  he  built  houses 
and  wrote  for  the  newspapers  ;  roamed  extensively  in 
the  streets  of  New  York,  and  studied  metropolitan 
life  from  the  top  of  a  Broadway  omnibus.  He  made 
an  extended  trip  on  foot  through  the  South  and  West 
and  Canada.  During  the  war  he  served  in  the  army 
hospitals,  where  exposure  brought  on  a  severe  illness 
from  the  effects  of  which  he  never  fully  recovered. 
From  1865  to  1874  he  held  a  government  clerkship  in 
Washington,  and  thereafter  spent  his  remaining  years 


428  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

at  Camden  in  easy  penury  and  the  quiet  enjoyment  of 
fame  as  "the  good  gray  poet." 

"  Leaves  of  Grass  "  first  appeared  in  1855,  and  under 
this  title  all  of  his  poetical  work  is  now  collected. 
The  new  poet  made  his  theatrical  debut,  thus  heralding 
himself:  — 

No  dainty  dolce  affettuoso  I. 

Bearded,  sunburnt,  gray-necked,  forbidding,  I  have  arrived, 
To  be  wrestled  with  as  I  pass  for  the  solid  prizes  of  the  uni 
verse. 

And  to  the  spotted  hawk  swooping  across  his  vision 
he  cries  ecstatically :  — 

I  too  am  not  a  bit  tamed,  I  too  am  untranslatable, 

I  sound  my  barbaric  yawp  over  the  roofs  of  the  world. 

A  few  readers,  startled  by  this  strange  sound,  looked 
into  the  book,  found  its  crudeness  and  vulgarity  "  un 
translatable  "  indeed,  and  it  dropped  out  of  notice. 
A  would-be  But  new  editions 'appeared,  and  disciples  of 
Reformer  the  new  prophet  arose,  and  his  advertise 
ment  began  in  spirited  critical  controversy.  Whitman 
proclaimed  himself  a  literary  reformer,  and,  like  the 
reformers  of  the  French  revolution  who  to  make  way 
for  their  new  republic  abolished  all  existing  institu 
tions  from  the  calendar  to  the  Almighty,  he  abolished 
all  conventions  of  art,  morals,  and  religion,  renouncing 
all  poetry  and  poetic  principles  precedent  to  his  own, 
And  with  this  result :  — 

Land  of  the  ocean  shores  !  land  of  sierras  and  peaks ! 
Land  of  boatmen  and  sailors  1  fishermen's  land  ! 


ix]  THE    METROPOLITAN   WRITERS  429 

Inextricable  lands !  the  clutched  together !  the  passionate 
ones  ! 

The  side  by  side  !  the  elder  and  younger  brothers  !  the 
bony-limbed  1 

The  great  women's  land  !  the  feminine  !  the  experienced 
sisters  and  the  inexperienced  sisters  ! 

Far  breath'd  land !  Arctic  braced  1  Mexican  breez'd !  the 
diverse  1  the  compact  1 

The  Pennsylvanian  1  the  Virginian  1  the  double  Caro 
linian  1 

0  all  and  each  well  loved  by  me  I  my  intrepid  nations !  0  I 
at  any  rate  include  you  all  with  perfect  love  ! 

To  accept  this  as  poetry  requires  us  to  readjust  our 
ideas  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  poetry  as  they 
have  existed  since  Homer.  Burroughs,  the  most  elo 
quent  and  persuasive  apologist  of  Whitman  in  America, 
admits  that  "  Leaves  of  Grass  "  is  "  bound  to  be  a 
shock"  to  the  majority  of  readers  which  he  "would 
fain  lessen."  But  great  art  needs  no  apol-  HIS  Apoio- 
ogy.  Whitman's  motive  —  so  far  as  he  gists 
could  have  had  any  conscious  artistic  motive  —  is  for- 
•  mulated  for  him  by  Stedman:  "He  has  been  feeling 
after  the  irregular,  various  harmonies  of  nature,  the 
anthem  of  the  winds,  the  roll  of  the  surges,  the  count 
less  laughter  of  the  ocean  waves.  He  tries  to  catch 
this  'undermelody  and  rhythm.'"  Granting  this,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  force  even  a  fraction  of  his  un 
measured  word-meanderings  into  any  sort  of  accord 
with  the  rhythmic  beat  of  nature's  melodies.  It  is  too 
palpable  a  paradox  to  assert  that  his  egotistical  assault 
upon  poetic  principle  was  an  inspiration  from  the  "  har- 


430  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

monies  of  nature."  Indeed  in  view  of  his  undoubted 
love  for  nature,  it  was  cruel  that  his  prayer  —  "Give 
me,  0  nature,  your  primal  sanities  "  —  should  not  have 
been  more  plenteously  answered. 

Bayard  Taylor's  early  judgment  of  Whitman  still 
serves  as  a  fair  summary  of  the  man  and  his  poetry : 
"  Yes,  there  is  something  in  him,  but  he  is  a  man  of 
colossal  egotism."  There  is  something  stimulating  in 
his  intense  Americanism,  and  in  his  all-embracing 
faith  in  the  future  of  democracy.  There  is  something 

in  his   contention  for  individualism,   and 
His  Merits 

the  complementary  notion  or  comradeship, 

"  a  superb  friendship,"  which  is  to  unite  all  classes 
when  brought  into  perfect  harmony  on  the  plane  of 
the  "  average  man."  There  is  something  of  real  force 
and  value  in  his  peculiar  eruptive  descriptions,  espe 
cially  of  nature,  "  flashes  of  reality "  in  which  he 
records  genuine  experience.  As  an  epithet  maker  his 
admirers  call  him  Homeric.  His  diction,  as  Stedmau 
notes,  when  "on  its  good  behavior,  is  copious  and, 
strong,  full  of  surprises,  utilizing  the  brave,  homely 
words  of  the  people."  There  are  lines  and  passages, 
and,  in  his  later  work,  whole  pieces  that  are  poetical 
in  all  but  form*  Such  is  "  The  Mystic  Trumpeter," 
and  such  the  opening  invocation  of  "From  Noon  to 
Starry  Night " :  - 

Thou  orb  aloft  all-dazzling  !  thou  hot  October  noon  ! 
Flooding  with  sheeny  light  the  gray  beach  sand, 
The  sibilant  near  sea  with  vistas  far  and  foam. 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN   WRITERS  431 

And  tawny  streaks  and  shades  and  spreading  blue ; 
0  sun  of  noon  refulgent !  my  special  word  to  thee. 

The  war  experience  served  somewhat  to  ennoble 
Whitman's  life  and  purify  his  writing,  for  out  of  it 
came  his  nearest  approaches  to  poetic  feeling  and  ex 
pression  of  the  highest  order.  In  "  Drum  Taps  "  is 
his  finest  work.  Here  are  the  Lincoln 
memorial  poems,  "  0  Captain,  My  Cap 
tain,"  and  "  When  Lilacs  Last  in  the  Dooryard 
Bloom'd,"  which  Stedman  in  a  moment  of  ardent 
admiration  declares  to  be  "exquisitely  idyllic"  and 
worthy  of  a  place  beside  Lowell's  "  Commemoration 
Ode."  It  is  noteworthy  that  his  best  work  always 
conforms  most  nearly  to  the  established  laws  of  poetry. 
"  0  Captain,  My  Captain,"  the  only  poem  that  has 
reached  real  popularity,  contains  all  the  technical 
features  of  verse  except  rhyme. 

Whitman's  excellences,  however,  seem  to  be  lapses 
from  the  normal  effort  of  his  mind.  He  was  the 
victim  of  his  own  theories;  the  poetry  in  his  nature 
was  submerged  in  egotism.  His  ignorance  and  un- 
couthness  must  not  be  mistaken  for  primordial  sim 
plicity  and  hirsute  strength.  In  spite  of  his  boasted 
cosmic  breadth  he  is  narrow;  his  ideas  are  few  and 
repeated  excessively.  His  long  processions  of  dis 
jointed  sentences,  sweeping  over  vast  areas 
J  His  Dements 

of  unrelated  facts,  are  not  to  be  accepted 
as  broad  vistas  of  nature  and  life.     The  thought  is  in 
coherent,  and  what  looks  like  profundity  is  often  little 


432  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

short  of  inanity.  The  crude  inadequacy  of  his  repre 
sentation  of  ideal  democracy  will  be  recognized  by  a 
comparison  of  his  chantings  with  Lowell's  address  on 
"  Democracy."  Of  society  in  a  broad  sense  he  knew 
little;  a  few  common  types,  sailors,  printers,  team 
sters  and  stage  drivers  he  knew  perfectly.  Refine 
ment  did  not  attract  him,  and  scholarship  he  flouted. 
It  is  a  tenet  of  modern  realism  that  the  common  and 
vulgar  are  to  be  exalted  into  the  realm  of  art  without 
the  circumambient  atmosphere  of  ideality.  In  the 
lower  atmosphere  of  realism  Whitman  lived  and  had 
his  being.  He  was  utterly  devoid  of  humor,  or  he 
would  have  been  spared  pages  of  grotesque  common 
place. 

The  boatmen  and  clam-diggers  arose  early  and  stopt  for 

me, 
I  tuck'd  my  trouser-ends  in  my  boots  and  went  and  had  a 

good  time. 

His  realism  is  often  animalism.  To  him  all  physical 
functions  are  divine  and  fit  subjects  for  poetry;  hence 
some  of  his  "  savage  songs  "  are  without  the  modesty 
and  taste  usually  found  among  savages.  His  plain 
ness  is  only  nakedness ;  of  the  real  significance  of  the 
nude  in  art  he  had  no  comprehension.  "  I  believe  in 
the  flesh  and  the  appetites,"  is  the  beginning  and  the 
end  of  his  creed. 

The  chief  difficulty  in  accounting  for  Whitman  is  to 
take  him  seriously.  The  conviction  is  forced  upon 
one  that  at  the  outset  of  his  career  as  a  literary  re- 


ix]  THE   METROPOLITAN    WRITERS  433 

former  he  was  a  poseur,  striking  strange  attitudes 
before  the  public  to  secure  a  sensational  celebrity. 
He  had  been  writing  poetry  of  the  ordinary  A  pr0babie 
type  and  stories  in  readable  prose.  But  Explanation 
this  work  brought  him  no  fame,  being  of  only  moder 
ate  merit;  hence  he  would  compel  fame  by  an  impu 
dent  experiment  upon  the  reading  public,  adding  to 
the  effect  by  always  appearing  upon  the  streets  with 
slouch  hat  and  open-necked  flannel  shirt.  Flattered 
by  the  praise  of  Emerson  and  a  few  others,  and  stimu 
lated  by  criticism,  he  soon  became  confirmed  in  his 
affectations  Special  vindication  came  from  certain 
English  writers  who,  listening  for  some  strange  note 
in  accord  with  their  preconceived  notions  of  what  our 
"  native  wood-notes  wild  "  should  be,  found  their  ideal 
in  Whitman ;  to  their  minds  the  "  howling  wilderness 
of  American  democracy  "  now  had  its  poet. 

What  may  be  the  final  effect  of  Whitman's  work  is 
still  a  matter  of  critical  controversy.  He  wished  to 
be  the  people's  poet,  but  the  people  will  have  none  of 
him.  The  true  people's  poets  are  Longfellow  and 
Whittier.  Under  his  sham  and  vulgarity  there  is  un 
questionably  a  vein  of  native  ore  that  is  critical 
worth  working  with  patience.  Gosse  sum-  verdicts 
marizes  him  as  "  literature  in  the  condition  of  proto 
plasm,"  and  his  amorphous  chantings  as  "poems  in 
solution."  Stevenson,  in  an  essay  of  temperate  admi 
ration,  concludes  that  "a  great  part  of  his  work,  con 
sidered  as  verse,  is  poor,  bald  stuff;  considered,  not 

2F 


434  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP,  x 

as  verse,  but  as  speech,  a  great  part  of  it  is  full  of 
strange  and  admirable  merits  —  a  most  surprising 
compound  of  plain  grandeur,  sentimental  affectation, 
and  downright  nonsense."  A  common  attitude  to 
ward  him  —  perhaps  the  permanent  one  —  is  that  of 
Dowden :  "  He  disturbs  our  classifications.  He  at 
tracts  us ;  he  repels  us ;  he  excites  our  curiosity, 
wonder,  admiration,  love;  or  our  extreme  repugnance. 
He  does  anything  except  leave  us  indifferent.  How 
ever  we  feel  towards  him,  we  cannot  despise  him. 
He  is  a  '  summons  and  a  challenge.'  He  must  be  un 
derstood  and  so  accepted,  or  must  be  got  rid  of. 
Passed  by  he  cannot  be." 

Class  Reading.  —  O  Captain,  My  Captain ;  The  Mystic 
Trumpeter ;  Pioneers,  0  Pioneers ;  Out  of  the  Cradle  End 
lessly  Rocking  ;  The  Centenarian's  Story  ;  Ethiopia  Saluting 
the  Colors  ;  When  Lilacs  Last  in  the  Dooryard  Bloom'd. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  —  William  Clarke's  "Life  of  Whit 
man."  Burroughs's  "  Whitman,  a  Study."  Kennedy's  "  Rem 
iniscences  of  Whitman."  Donaldson's  "Whitman,  the  Man." 
Gilder's  "  Authors  at  Home."  Symonds's  "  Walt  Whitman,  a 
Study."  Stedman's  "  Poets  of  America."  Stevenson's  "  Fa 
miliar  Studies."  Gosse's  "Critical  Kit-Kats."  Dowden's 
"Studies  in  Literature."  Wendell's  "Literary  History  of 
America."  Ernest  Rhys's  "Introduction"  (Poems  of  Walt 
Whitman  —  Canterbury  Poets).  Hubbard's  "Little  Journeys." 
Cheney's  "That  Dome  in  Air."  Holmes' s  "  Walt  Whitman's 
Poetry:  A  Study  and  a  Selection." 


CHAPTER  X 

PRESENT  SCHOOLS  AND  TENDENCIES 

THE  paramount  literary  interests  of  to-day  are  un 
questionably  centered  in  fiction ;  indeed,  the  marvel 
ous  vogue  of  the  novel  is  the  most  significant  literary 
fact  that  marks  the  opening  of  the  new  century.  The 
wide  extension  of  the  reading  habit,  the  cheapening 
of  books  and  periodicals,  the  stimulating  of  intellec 
tual  curiosity  by  the  ubiquitous  newspaper,  and  the 
American  temperamental  necessity  for  universality 
mental  occupation  in  moments  of  leisure,  °fN°vels 
all  work  together  to  produce  a  vast  audience  to  which 
the  novelist  caters  with  confidence.  A  successful 
novel  now  reaches  a  sale  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
copies,  and  the  comfortable  fortunes  suddenly  brought 
to  the  authors  seem  to  belie  the  traditions  of  starving 
authorship,  or  relegate  them  to  a  mythological  past. 
Moreover,  novel-writing  is  not  confined  within  profes 
sional  bounds.  Everybody  with  a  creative  mind  and 
literary  taste  writes  novels,  or  tries  to  do  so.  Doctors, 
lawyers,  judges,  bankers,  generals,  college  girls,  pro 
fessors,  and  ministers  compete  for  the  prizes  of  the 
fiction  market. 

Other  forms  of  literature  are  weakened,  if  not  alto- 
435 


436  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

gether  destroyed,  by  this  plethora  of  fiction.  The 
novel  takes  the  place  of  the  epic,  and  robs  lyric  po 
etry  of  its  just  rights  in  personal  emotion.  Drama 
has  entirely  succumbed  to  its  power,  and  history  can 
hardly  retain  a  foothold,  except  as  a  background  for 
the  creations  of  the  story-teller.  The  novel  is  to  the 
present  age  what  the  drama  was  to  the  Elizabethan ; 
it  is  the  abstract  and  brief  chronicle  of  the  times,  and 
much  more.  Every  event,  theory,  problem,  or  ques 
tion  of  public  interest,  social,  moral,  religious,  politi 
cal,  or  psychological,  is  exploited  and  explained  in 
the  pages  of  the  novel.  It  divides  with  the  news 
paper  the  work  of  furnishing  universal  instruction 
and  entertainment. 

In  this  remarkable  development  of  fiction  Ameri 
can  authors  have  reached  a  distinguished  eminence. 
While  perhaps  the  work  of  no  one  author  stands  out 
prominently  with  the  unmistakable  marks  of  immor 
tal  greatness  upon  it,  a  very  high  average  of  artistic 
attainment  has  been  reached  by  many  authors.  If  it 
The  American  be  true  in  general  of  the  fiction  of  the 
Novel  English  language  that  never  within  the 

past  century  were  there  so  few  great  writers  in  this 
department,  it  is  more  certainly  true  that  never  before 
were  there  so  many  good  writers.  American  fiction 
to-day  possesses  characteristic  features  that  are  quite 
as  distinctly  marked  as  the  characteristics  of  Euro 
pean  fiction.  It  is  indigenous  and  increasingly  repre 
sentative.  In  its  breadth,  variety,  freedom  from 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        437 

precedent  and  fidelity  to  common  life,  it  is  demo 
cratic,  and  in  its  ideal  aims,  elevated  tone,  and  versa 
tile  energy,  it  is  genuinely  American.  If  our  novels 
have  not  the  power  and  intensity  of  the  Russian, 
they  are  free  from  the  brutal  coarseness  of  the  Rus 
sian  ;  if  they  lack  the  literary  grace  and  artistic 
finish  of  the  French,  they  are  free  from  the  subtle 
poison  of  the  literary  morals  of  the  French.  The 
novel,  however,  is  not  so  distinct  in  its  representative 
qualities  as  the  short  story.  Since  its  beginning  with 
Irving,  Hawthorne,  and  Poe,  the  American  short  story 
has  developed  a  popularity  unparalleled  in  other  lit 
eratures,  and  an  artistic  excellence  unequaled  in  any 
literature  except  the  French. 

The  general  tendency  of  contemporary  fiction  is  to 
focus  attention  upon  small  areas  of  human  activity. 
A  single  novel  of  Dickens  or  Thackeray  sometimes 
contains  fifty  or  sixty  characters,  the  old  plan  of  the 
novel  being  a  vast  canvas  crowded  with  figures  and 
incidents ;  the  novelist  now  concentrates  his  powers 
upon  a  few  leading  characters,  presenting  only  such 
minor  characters  and  details  of  background  and  envi 
roning  incidents  as  will  contribute  to  the  adequate  in 
terpretation  of  the  main  figures  in  his  plot. 

Realism 

This  tendency  is  only  a  phase  of  the  pre 
vailing  passion  for  more  knowledge  and  more  truth. 
Hence  we  have  the  principle  of  "  realism  "  in  fiction, 
a  name  given  to  the  effort  of  authors  to  make  litera 
ture  a  more  accurate  expression  of  life,  as  known  to 


438  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

actual  experience.  Even  in  the  recent  reaction  toward 
romanticism,  an  important  use  is  made  of  the  realistic 
principle.  The  broad  extent  of  the  country  and  the 
variety  of  scenery  and  of  type'  characters  have  given 
special  prominence  in  American  fiction  to  the  story 
of  local  color  and  dialect.  Indeed,  in  current  fiction 
American  life  in  all  its  phases  is  being  described  with 
the  minute  faithfulness  of  history.  The  leading  repre 
sentatives  of  realism  are  William  Dean  Howells  and 
Henry  James.  About  these  two  writers  has  gathered 
a  group  of  apt  pupils  and  imitators,  who  with  their 
two  masters  constitute  what  is  known  as  the  school 
of  American  realism. 

WILLIAM   DEAN   HOWELLS 
1837- 

Martin's  Ferry,  Ohio,  was  not  a  promising  place  for 
the  making  of  an  author,  when  William  Dean  How- 
ells  was  born  there  in  1837.  His  father's  newspaper 
office  and  a  good-sized  case  of  books  in  the  home  were 
the  main  instruments  of  his  education.  He  learned 
the  printer's  trade,  and  from  his  wages  of  four  dollars 
a  week  contributed  to  the  support  of  the  family. 

"  The  printing  office  was  my  school  from 
Apprentice 
ship  to  a  very  early  date,"  he  says.     He  obtained 

work  upon  the  newspapers  at  the  state 
capital,  reaching  at  twenty-two  the  position  of  "  news 
editor,"  and  about  the  same  time  he  published, 


PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        439 


with  his  companion,  John  James  Piatt,  a  volume  of 
poems,  entitled  "  Poems  of  Two  Friends."  His  strug 
gling  aspirations  and  unfavorable  environment  during 
these  early  years  are  faithfully  described  in  "  Impres 
sions  and  Experiences  "  and  "  A  Boy's  Town." 

In  1860  he  wrote  a  campaign  biography  of  Lincoln, 
and  for  this  service  received  the  consulship  at  Venice. 
This  transplanting  from 
Ohio  to  ancient  Venice  was 
a  fortunate  event  in  his  life, 
of  which  he  made  good  use. 
It  gave  him,  he  says,  "  four 
years  of  almost  uninter 
rupted  study  and  literary 
work."  The  sketches  in 
"Venetian  Life"  and  "Ital 
ian  Journeys,"  written  at 
this  time,  are  among  the 
most  delightfnl  and  valua 
ble  of  their  kind,  showing 
in  their  minute  observation 
and  careful  style  the  characteristic  marks  of  his  later 
manner.  Upon  his  return  he  engaged  for  a  time  in 
New  York  journalism,  but  in  1866  he  was 
made  assistant  editor  of  the  Atlantic  Monthly 
and  in  1872  became  editor-in-chief,  which  position  he 
resigned  at  the  end  of  nine  years,  to  devote  himself 
henceforth  to  independent  authorship. 

"Suburban  Sketches,"  published  in  1871,  describes 


William  Dean  Howells 


Venice 


440  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

with  charming  humor  and  grace  of  style  life  as  he 
saw  it  about  his  home  in  Cambridge.  In  the  same 
year  appeared  "Their  Wedding  Journey,"  a  kind  of 
prolonged  sketch,  revealing  in  a  surprising  manner 
the  literary  possibilities  of  a  commonplace 

Early  Works 

wedding  trip  across  the  state  of  ISew  York. 
This  was  followed  in  1873  by  "A  Chance  Acquaint 
ance,"  in  which  the  narrative  of  events  is  shaped 
into  a  simple  story.  These  books  mark  successive 
steps  of  approach  toward  the  complete  realistic  novel, 
as  finally  constructed  by  Howells.  They  contain  his 
finest  literary  qualities,  and  to  some  minds  are  more 
satisfactory  representations  of  his  genius  than  his 
full-formed  novels,  written  according  to  certain  prin 
ciples  that  completely  control  his  later  work. 

As  these  principles  constitute  a  kind  of  creed,  stren 
uously  preached  and  assiduously  practiced  by  How- 
ells  throughout  nearly  the  whole  of  his  literary  career, 
it  is  necessary  to  an  understanding  of  his  work  and 
its  influence  to  examine  his  theories,  as  presented 
especially  in  "Criticism  and  Fiction."  A  text  from 
Theory  of  Emerson  embodies  his  whole  theme:  "I 
Fiction  ask  not  for  the  great,  the  remote,  the  ro 

mantic.  I  embrace  the  common ;  I  sit  at  the  feet  of 
the  familiar  and  the  low."  The  material  of  the  novel 
must  be  plain,  average,  everyday  humanity,  and 
"  realism  is  nothing  more  and  nothing  less  than  the 
truthful  treatment  of  material."  Nothing  must  enter 
into  fiction  except  "  the  simple,  the  natural,  and  the 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        441 

honest."  He  renounces  romance  and  heroism,  and 
regards  any  hankering  after  these  old  flesh-pots  of 
delight  as  an  evidence  of  the  "  petrifaction  of  taste  '5 
or  of  a  "  puerilized  fancy."  Scott  to  him  is  intolerable. 
Of  all  the  great  English  masters,  only  Jane  Austen  is 
"  artistic,"  for  she  was  "  the  first  and  the  last  of  the 
English  novelists  to  treat  material  with  entire  truth 
fulness."  The  love  of  the  passionate  and  heroic  is  a 
"  crude  and  unwholesome  thing."  As  to  plot  and 
action,  these  are  not  necessary  to  a  story ;  neither  is  a 
hero  or  a  heroine.  Any  continuous  and  circumstan 
tial  description  of  a  character  or  group  of  people  is  a 
story.  The  business  of  the  novelist  is  to  observe  and 
record  what  he  sees ;  the  process  is  not  so  much  pho 
tographic  as  microscopic,  for  the  camera  leaves  some 
things  in  shadow,  and  the  realist  theoretically  must 
disclose  everything. 

That  Howells  is  superior  to  this  restricted  literary 
creed  is  pretty  thoroughly  attested  by  his  wide  popu 
larity.  His  argument  and  example  have  served  as  a 
wholesome  protest  against  the  excesses  of  romance 
and  sentimentality,  and  the  lesson  of  moderation  and 
good  sense  taught  by  his  style  is  of  incalculable  value 
to  pure  fiction.  But  like  every  reaction,  realism  com 
mits  its  own  indefensible  excesses.  His  judgments 
tipon  his  distinguished  predecessors  are  often  antipa 
thetic  rather  than  critical.  Instead  of  being  as  broad 
as  the  shining  light  of  truth,  his  realism  is  often  as 
limited  as  the  light  of  a  table  lamp.  Because  the  im- 


442  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

petuous  romanticism  of  Scott  and  his  school  leaves 
upon  the  delicately  sensitized  taste  of  Howells  merely 
the  impression  of  caricature,  and  the  ethical  side-talks 
of  Thackeray  pall  upon  his  mind,  it  does  not  necessa 
rily  argue  a  crude  rnind  and  an  unlettered  taste  in 
others  to  find  in  these  authors  something  consonant 
Limitations  with  their  own  views  of  fact  and  the  eter- 
of  Realism  naj  verities.  To  confine  the  novelist  to 
the  portrayal  of  men  and  women,  "  actuated  by  the 
motives  and  the  passions  in  the  measure  we  all  know," 
is  an  arbitrary  limitation.  Life  in  the  "  measure  we 
all  know  "  is  for  the  most  part  a  commonplace,  which 
art  should  mitigate,  not  emphasize.  There  are  great 
things  in  life  as  well  as  little  things,  and  the  great 
things  are  no  less  natural  and  true  because  they  are 
not  common.  The  one  great .  weakness  of  Howells's 
novels  is  their  lack  of  high  significance ;  the  severest 
criticism  upon  them  is  that  one  is  seldom  impelled  to 
read  them  a  second  time.  The  characters  are  never 
inspiring.  The  reader's  vanity  is  flattered  by  discov 
ering  that  the  people  of  literature  are  just  mediocre, 
unim  passioned  people  like  himself.  The  appeal  is 
from  the  commonplace  to  the  commonplace.  The  in 
adequacy  of  this  realism  is  especially  felt  in  Howells's 
treatment  of  woman.  The  female  characters  in  his 
novels  are  for  the  most  part  merely  variations  of  a 
single  type,  the  well-dressed,  shallow,  illogical  woman, 
capable  only  of  spasmodic  goodness,  conversational 
inanity,  and  delicate  duplicity.  But  this  injustice  is 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        443 

an  illustration  of  the  common  tendency  of  realism  to 
represent  only  certain  segments  of  the  eternal  round 
of  human  life,  choosing  those  nearest  the  earth. 

However,  in  spite  of  his  "  wrong-headedness,"  as 
Vedder  remarks,  "Howells  is  easily  the  first  living 
American  novelist."  His  hold  upon  popular  interest, 
it  is  pretty  certain,  is  due  to  qualities  quite  independ 
ent  of  his  theories.  His  style  alone  is  a  literary 
triumph  of  a  high  order.  He  gives  pleasure  "  by  the 
mere  process  of  writing,"  says  Higginson,  "just  as 
when  we  are  listening  to  conversation,  a  Howeiis's 
musical  voice  gratifies  us  almost  more  style 
than  wit  or  wisdom.  Howells  is  without  an  equal 
in  America — and  therefore  without  an  equal  among 
his  English-speaking  contemporaries  —  as  to  some  of 
the  most  attractive  literary  graces.  He  has  no  rival 
in  half-tints,  in  modulation,  in  subtile  phrases  that 
touch  the  edge  of  an  assertion  and  yet  stop  short  of 
it.  He  is  like  a  skater  who  executes  a  hundred  grace 
ful  curves  within  the  limits  of  a  pool  a  few  yards 
square."  His  expression  takes  the  form  of  a  peculiar 
simplicity,  secured  by  a  bold  use  of  common  words, 
selected,  however,  with  an  unerring  sense  of  fitness, 
and  by  a  happy  use  of  familiar  idioms  and  current 
slang.  And  he  is  a  master  of  humor  —  refined,  playful, 
half-concealed  humor,  emitted  from  the  text  like  the 
odors  from  mellow  fruit,  a  humor  that  is  constantly  and 
tantalizingly  shading  into  irony.  Humor,  grace,  and 
lucidity  constitute  the  indisputable  charm  of  his  prose. 


444  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

His  humor  is  most  happily  illustrated  in  his  lit 
tle  comedies,  such  as  "The  Elevator,"  "The  Mouse- 
Trap."  "  The  Albany  Depot."  and  "  Unex- 
Comedies 

pected  Guests."   These  clever  and  graceful 

little  dramas  are  the  finest  contribution  of  our  litera 
ture  to  the  amateur  stage,  light  conversational  trifles, 
just  long  enough  to  sustain  a  hearty  laugh  at  the 
absurdities  committed  by  a  few  ordinary  people  in 
geniously  brought  together  in  extraordinary  situa 
tions. 

Three  fairly  well-marked  periods  may  be  distin 
guished  in  the  progress  of  Howells's  fiction.  To  the 
first  period  belong,  in  addition  to  the  two  stories 
already  mentioned,  "  The  Lady  of  the  Aroostook " 
and  "The  Undiscovered  Country."  The  charm  of 
these  early  books  is  increased  by  the  lingering  sug 
gestions  of  romance  and  ideality,  which  the  author 
had  not  fully  rooted  out  of  his  nature.  The  second 
period  is  represented  by  "  The  Rise  of  Silas  Lapham," 
a  triumph  of  realism,  and  "  A  Modern  Instance,"  his 
most  powerful  and  most  disagreeable  book,  the  novel 
in  which  he  says  he  has  "  always  taken  the  most 
satisfaction.  I  have  there  come  closest  to  American 
life  as  -I  know  it."  The  latest  phase  of  his  fiction  is 
Development  represented  by  "A  Hazard  of  New  For- 
of  his  tunes,"  a  novel  of  New  York  life,  in  which 

he  shows  an  increasing  inclination  to  at 
tempt  the  unraveling  of  those  perplexities  of  human 
relationship  commonly  generalized  under  the  term 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        445 

"  social  problems."  During  this  period  his  work  re 
veals  the  strong  influence  of  the  great  Russian  realist, 
Tolstoi,  whose  novels,  to  his  thinking,  "  transcend  in 
truth,  which  is  the  highest  beauty,  all  other  works 
of  fiction  that  have  been  written."  To  the  ethical 
theories  of  Tolstoi  he  commits  himself  quite  as  un 
reservedly,  recognizing  "  their  truth  with  a  rapture," 
and  rendering  them  "my  allegiance,  heart  and  soul." 
This  latest  "literary  passion,"  whatever  may  be  the 
effect  of  its  ethical  content,  cannot  but  be  regarded  as 
a  misfortune  to  his  art,  in  proportion  as  it  leads  him 
still  farther  away  from  his  early  manner. 

Reading  and  Discussion.  —  Suburban  Sketches ;  A  Chance 
Acquaintance  ;  The  Lady  of  the  Aroostook  ;  The  Kise  of  Silas 
Lapham  ;  The  Elevator  ;  The  Mouse-Trap. 

Biography  and  Criticism.  — Vedder's  "Writers  of  To-day." 
Richardson's  "American  Literature."  Higginson's  "Short 
Studies  of  American  Authors."  Peck's  "  The  Personal  Equa 
tion."  For  a  discussion  of  the  realistic  novel,  see  Howells's 
"  Criticism  and  Fiction,"  Henry  James's  "The  Art  of  Fiction  " 
("  Partial  Portraits  "),  and  F.  Marion  Crawford's  "  The  Novel : 
What  It  Is."  Autobiographic  books:  "A  Boy's  Town"; 
"My  Year  in  a  Log  Cabin,  Impressions  and  Experiences"  ; 
"  My  Literary  Passions." 

HENRY  JAMES 
1843- 

The  true  high  priest  of  American  realism  in  the 
common  estimation  is  Henry  James,  who  is  the  crea 
tor  of  the  "  international "  type  of  novel,  represented 
by  such  early  books  as  "  The  American,"  "  Daisy  Mil- 


446  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

ler,"  "The  Europeans,"  and  "An  International  Epi 
sode."  In  these  stories  the  contrasts  of  character  and 
manners  between  democratic  America  and  aristocratic 
Theinterna-  Europe  are  set  forth  with  the  full  power 
tionai  Novel  of  realisrn  and  with  a  cold  disregard  for 
the  feelings  of  Americans.  The  appearance  of  "  Daisy 
Miller,"  the  typical,  impulsive,  unrestrained,  dashing 
American  girl  abroad,  created  a  sensational  storm  of 
protest.  But  it  being  the  peculiar  tenet  of  realism 
that  the  common  and  coarser  side  of  truth  is  prefera 
ble  for  the  realist's  uses,  James  held  to  his  purpose 
of  depicting  American  crudeness  on  the  background 
of  European  culture.  The  truth  he  chose  to  paint  he 
painted  with  the  skill  of  a  consummate  artist.  For 
this  he  was  especially  fitted  by  education  and  expe 
rience. 

Born  in  New  York  in  1843,  with  a  literary  inherit 
ance,  educated  with  great  care  in  the  principal  cities 
of  Europe,  and  residing  abroad  for  a  good  part  of  his 
life,  he  has  become  cosmopolitan  in  culture  and  with 
an  amplified  consciousness  of  that  fact.  But  in  view 
of  his  imperfect  knowledge  of  American  life,  and  his 
disposition  to  patronize  such  "  provincial "  writers  as 
Emerson  and  Hawthorne,  his  "  cosmopolitanism,"  as 
cosmopolitan  Higginson  suggests,  "is,  after  all,  limited: 
culture  fa  kg  reai]y  cosmopolitan  a  man  must  be  at 

home  even  in  his  own  country."  His  brilliant  intel 
lectual  equipment  and  rare  advantages  are  shown  in 
the  firm,  self-poised  mastery  of  literary  art,  as  he 


xj  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        447 

chooses  to  cultivate  it.  In  his  essays  and  "Life  of 
Hawthorne  "  he  proves  himself  a  critic  of  a  superior 
order.  In  his  first  volume  of  stories,  "  The  Passionate 
Pilgrim,"  1875,  as  in  the  first  books  of  Howells,  there 
are  evidences  of  freedom,  touches  of  romance  and  sen 
timent,  showing  that  the  realistic  principle  had  not 
yet  been  fully  defined  in  his  mind.  But  he  soon 
formulated  his  creed,  henceforth  to  be  sustained  with 
a  peculiarly  rigid  directness. 

Realism  is  carried  by  James  to  the  perfection  of  a 
special  science.  Having  selected  a  group  of  charac 
ters,  he  sits  beside  them  with  pencil  and  notebook  in 
hand,  watching  and  reporting  with  scientific  accuracy 
every  word  and  movement,  without  passion  or  sympa 
thy,  indifferent  as  to  moral  implication,  aiming  only 
to  produce  a  full  and  faithful  transcript  of  the  surface 
expression  of  character.  "  His  conceptions  james's 
are  not  forged  in  the  heat  of  his  mind,  but  Realism 
hammered  from  cold  steel."  He  forms  no  plot,  pro 
duces  no  action  or  progress,  ends  the  scene  where  it 
began,  draws  no  conclusion ;  he  merely  presents  facts 
and  reproduces  endless  conversations,  often  brilliant 
with  wit  and  humor,  and  always  convincingly  real. 
Unlike  the  ordinary  type  characters  of  Howells,  his 
characters  are  generally  interesting  for  their  indi 
vidual  significance  and  personal  distinction.  His 
stories  are  often  studies,  problems  in  psychology  and 
conduct,  approached  from  the  side  of  taste  rather  than 
of  morals  or  philosophy.  He  is  often,  like  some  of  his 


448  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

characters,  "engaged  in  making  studies  for  matri 
mony,"  but  with  only  a  scientific  interest  in  the  affair. 
The  perfection  of  his  skill  is  found  in  his  short 
stories ;  in  this  form  of  fiction  he  holds  a  unique 
mastery.  His  art  is  too  exquisite  for  Avide  popu 
larity,  almost  "  caviare  to  the  general " ;  its  finish  is 
faultily  faultless.  One  almost  wishes  that  the  style 
would  lapse  into  a  barbarism  occasionally  to  break 
the  monotony  of  excellence.  "  It  is  the  style  of  the 
most  finished  urbanity,  of  the  broadest  and  most 
generous  culture."  Says  Howells :  "  In  literature, 
one  may  say,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  the 
writer  of  the  most  distinction  now  writing  English 
is  Mr.  Henry  James." 1 

Reading  and  Discussion.  —  The  Madonna  of  the  Future ; 
Madame  de  Mauves  ;  Daisy  Miller ;  The  Princess  Cassamas- 
sima  ;  The  Soft  Side  ;  Portraits  of  Places. 

FRANCIS   MARION  CRAWFORD 
1854- 

One  of  our  most  popular  and  prolific  writers  of 
fiction  is  F.  Marion  Crawford,  whom  the  English 
critic,  Andrew  Lang,  regards  as  "the  most  versatile 
and  various  of  modern  novelists."  Crawford  enjoys 
the  advantages  of  an  international  experience  quite  as 
opulent  as  that  of  Henry  James,  and,  somewhat  like 
James  also,  is  perhaps  better  acquainted  with  almost 

1 W.  D.  Howells,  in  the  North  American  Review,  April,  1901. 


xj  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        449 

every  other  people  than  with  his  own.  The  sweep 
and  voluminousness  of  knowledge  that  is  available 
to  him  for  fiction  are  extraordinary,  rang-  Extensive 
ing  from  Indian  occultism,  Zoroaster,  and  Equipment 
the  court  of  King  Darius,  to  English  rural  life, 
American  party  politics  and  New  York  society,  life 
in  the  Black  Forest  of  Germany,  ancient  Home  and 
modern  Italy,  and  the  sacred  penetralia  of  St.  Peter's 
throne.  Since  the  publication  of  his  first  novel,  "  Mr. 
Isaacs,"  in  1882,  more  than  thirty  volumes  have  ap 
peared,  the  best  upon  Italian  themes,  the  poorest  upon 
American. 

Son  of  the  distinguished  American  sculptor,  Thomas 
Crawford,  he  was  born  in  Italy  in  1854 ;  he  spent  his 
early  childhood  in  New  York,  studied  at  Harvard, 
at  Cambridge  University,  England,  at  Carlsruhe  and 
Heidelberg,  and  at  Kome.  He  acquired  a  wide  knowl 
edge  of  languages  and  their  respective  literatures, 
including  the  Sanskrit.  In  1879  he  went  to  India, 
and  for  a  time  edited  the  Indian  Herald  at  Allahabad, 
where  he  obtained  the  experience  that  led  to  his 
first  romantic  and  singularly  interesting  story,  "Mr. 
Isaacs."  In  1884  he  settled  in  a  permanent  home 
near  Sorrento,  Italy. 

Like  his  compatriots,  Howells  and  James,  Crawford 
formulates  his  own  recipe  for  a  "  perfect  novel,"  which, 
as  illustrated  in  his  own  practice,  is  a  compromise  be 
tween  the  romantic  and  the  realistic  method.  A  novel 
is  "an  intellectual  artistic  luxury,"  to  begin  with. 
2o 


450  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

"  It  must  deal  chiefly  with  love,  for  in  that  passion 
all  men  and  women   are  most   generally  interested." 

It  "  must  be  clean  and  sweet,  for  it  must 
A  Compro 
mise  Theory    tell  its  tale  to  all  mankind."     Its  realism 

"  must  be  real,  of  three  dimensions,  not 
flat  and  photographic ;  its  romance  must  be  of  the 
human  heart  and  truly  human,  that  is,  of  the  earth  as 
we  have  found  it;  its  idealism  must  be  transcendent, 
not  measured  to  man's  mind,  but  proportioned  to 
man's  soul." 

This  rational  view  of  the  novel  is  consistently  ex 
emplified  in  Crawford's  work.  Sometimes  he  dares 
the  scorn  of  the  realists,  as  in  the  delightf  ul  "  Roman 
Singer,"  with  a  romance  of  the  old-fashioned  type, 
with  the  lonely  castle,  secret  passages,  midnight 
escape,  and  other  paraphernalia  of  wonderment.  The 
best  example  of  his  theory,  as  well  as  the  finest 
product  of  his  genius,  is  seen  in  the  trilogy,  "  Sara- 
cinesca,"  "  Sant'  Ilario,"  and  "  Don  Orsino,"  in  which 
the  history  of  a  noble  Italian  family  is  depicted  with 
the  finest  effects  of  both  romance  and  realism. 

Reading  and  Discussion.  —  Saracinesca  ;  A  Roman  Singer. 

TWO   MASTERS   OF   THE    SHORT   STORY 

One  comes  upon  an  embarrassment  of  riches  among 
contemporary  short-story  writers  that  makes  dis 
crimination  exceedingly  difficult.  Comparison  be 
comes  odious  where  so  many  are  excellent.  Some, 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        451 

however,  whose  works  have  outlived  their  sensational 
success  and  settled  into  permanent  fame,  deserve 
special  laurels.  An  entirely  original  vein  of  humor 
ous  and  romantic,  or  fantastic,  creation  belongs  to 
Francis  Richard  Stockton.  He  was  born  in  Philadel 
phia  in  1834,  served  an  apprenticeship  in 

Francis  Rich- 
New  York  journalism,  was  assistant  editor   ara  Stockton, 

of  St.  Nicholas  in  its  early  years,  and  l834-'9« 
finally  withdrew  from  the  turmoil  of  the  city  to  a 
pleasant  country  home,  there  to  devote  himself  en 
tirely  to  literature.  His  reputation  was  established 
in  1879  with  "  Rudder  Grange,"  and  the  quaintly 
humorous  "Euphemia"  and  "Pomona  "became  at 
once  universal  favorites.  His  most  celebrated  fan 
tasy  is  "  The  Lady  or  the  Tiger  ?  "  in  which  the  artful 
betrayal  of  the  reader's  confidence  is  a  bit  of  humor 
ous  sagacity,  exhibiting  pure  genius.  His  "special 
talent  is  for  writing  a  tale  which  in  a  few  pages  and 
with  the  lightest  of  touches  explicates  an  odd  plot  or 
delineates  an  odd  character,  dealing  so  gravely  and 
logically  with  an  absurd  or  impossible  set  of  circum 
stances  that  they  seem  reality  itself."  His  humor  is 
sly,  delicate,  and  pervasive,  and  his  creations  are 
always  refined  and  wholesome ;  the  reader  is  never 
ashamed  of  being  found  in  the  company  of  his  char 
acters.  His  style  is  mere  simplicity,  but  that  kind  of 
artistic  simplicity  that  defies  imitation.  He  suggests 
DeFoe  in  his  habitual  method,  but  a  distinct  and  un 
mistakable  individuality  marks  all  his  work. 


452  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

A  more  veritable  disciple  of  DeFoe  is  the  author 

of   that  famous  tale  "  A  Man  Without  a  Country," 

Edward  Everett  Hale,  whose  "appallingly 

Edward  °  J 

Everett  Hale,  voluminous  "  writings  extend  to  more  than 
fifty  volumes.  He  was  born  in  Boston  in 
1822,  was  graduated  from  Harvard,  and  for  more  than 
half  a  century  was  one  of  the  leading  preachers  of  his 
native  city.  His  "  Ten  Times  One  is  Ten  "  led  to  the 
philanthropic  movement  among  young  people,  carried 
on  by  the  "  Harry  Wadsworth,"  "  Lend  a  Hand,"  and 
other  clubs,  which  now  extends  around  the  globe. 
He  is  a  popular  writer  of  history  and  biography,  but 
his  permanent  literary  fame  rests  upon  his  short 
stories,  to  which  he  imparts  that  peculiar  quality  of 
verisimilitude  that  imposes  upon  the  minds  of  readers 
the  most  whimsical  relation  of  invented  facts  as  actu 
ality.  No  other  American  writer  has  equaled  him  in 
this  ability  to  make  history  out  of  fiction.  "A  Man 
Without  a  Country "  has  been  quoted  the  world  over 
as  a  record  of  facts.  Like  Stockton,  Dr.  Hale  is  not 
able  to  sustain  his  best  qualities  in  a  long  story  or 
complete  novel.  Their  airy  structures  are  not  broad 
enough  in  the  foundation  of  sentiment  or  character ; 
the  puzzle  or  the  mystery  must  be  solved  before  the 
interest  flags.  "  In  His  Name,"  a  story  of  the  Wal- 
denses,  has  been  widely  read  on  account  of  its  historic 
interest.  Next  to  Dr.  Hale's  abounding  humor,  one 
most  enjoys  his  healthy  optimism.  The  spirit  of  all 
his  work  is  expressed  in  the  motto  of  his  young  hero, 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        453 

"  Look  up  and  not  down  ;  look  forward  and  not  back ; 
look  out  and  not  in ;  and  lend  a  hand." 

Reading  and  Discussion.  —  Stockton's  "Rudder  Grange"; 
"The  Lady  or  the  Tiger?  "  ;  "The  Remarkable  Wreck  of  the 
Thomas  Hyde."  Kale's  "  A  Man  Without  a  Country  "  ;  "  My 
Double  and  How  He  Undid  Me  "  ;  "  The  Brick  Moon  "  ;  "  Ten 
Times  One  is  Ten." 

A   GROUP   OF   NEW    ENGLAND    WOMEN 

Howells  generously  remarks,  apropos  of  the  short 
story,  that  "  the  sketches  and  studies  by  the  women 
seem  faithfuller  and  more  realistic  than  those  of  the 
men,  in  proportion  to  their  number."  The  present 
activity  of  women  in  literature  is  one  of  the  most 
prominent  facts  of  the  age;  indeed  it  women  in 
marks  a  historic  epoch  in  the  progress  Literature 
of  civilization.  In  imaginative  literature  women  in 
America  are  probably  at  the  present  time  producing 
more  work  than  men,  and  of  an  average  quality,  pos 
sibly,  quite  as  high  in  the  scale  of  literary  merit.  It 
is  natural  that  in  intellectual  New  England  the  widest 
development  of  feminine  genius  should  have  appeared. 
The  common  life  and  scenery  of  New  England,  the 
home,  childhood,  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  simple  human 
hearts,  have  been  described  by  these  women  with 
remarkable  fullness  and  truth,  with  realistic  force  and 
idealistic  purpose,  and  with  a  pure  regard  for  the  rela 
tions  of  the  virtues  of  literature  to  the  virtues  of 
everyday  life.  The  names  of  Mrs.  Stowe,  Miss  Alcott, 


454  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Lucy  Larcom,  Mrs.  Dorr,  Mrs.  Whitney,  Celia  Thaxter, 
and  many  others  have  long  been  household  words. 

Few  descriptions  of  nature  are  more  genuine  and 
delightful  than  Celia  Thaxter' s  "  The  Isles  of  Shoals." 

Elizabeth  Stuart  Phelps-Ward  gives  us  also 
Thaxter,         sympathetic  studies  of  the  sea  that  beats 

out  its  wild  music  for  poets'  ears  along  the 

Elizabeth 

Stuart  rocky  "  north  shore."     She  knows,  too,  the 

ps.  i  44-  pgOpig  jn  tjig  great  factory  towns,  and  attimes 
her  pen  has  been  devoted  philanthropically  to  "  causes." 
But  she  knows  best  and  describes  best  the  heart  and 
soul  of  the  New  England  woman,  in  her  strongest 
moods  and  aspirations,  as  one  sees  in  "  The  Story  of 
Avis  "  and  other  books  in  which  the  men  are  generally 
foils  for  the  women.  She  is  impulsive,  passionate,  and 
intense  in  her  emotions,  and  her  imagination  is  some 
times  venturesome,  as  in  "  The  Gates  Ajar,"  which 
was  a  shock  to  the  orthodox,  a  comfort  to  many  afflicted 
hearts,  and  a  sensational  literary  success.  Sweet, 
tender,  and  graceful  are  the  songs  of  Julia  C.  R.  Dorr, 
in  "Friar  Anselmo,"  "Afternoon  Songs,"  and  other 
volumes,  to  which  are  to  be  added  several  novels  and 
books  of  delightful  travel  sketches,  such  as  "  The 
Flower  of  England's  Face."  With  these 

Julia  C.  R. 

Don,  1825-  authors  is  closely  associated  the  novelist, 
Sarah  Ome  Sarah  Orne  Jewett,  who  with  painstaking 
fidelity  and  in  beautiful  prose  suffused 
with  quiet  humor  paints  the  life  of  the  good  old-fash 
ioned  folk  of  her  native  section  We  could  not  well 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        455 

spare  such  books  as  "  Deephaven,"  "  A  Marsh  Island," 
and  "  The  Country  of  the  Pointed  Firs."     Her  books 
are  alive  with  the  fragrance  of  the  woods,  the  murmur 
of  pines,  the  lilt  of  the  ebbing  tide  in  the  lush  sea  grass, 
and  the  simple  occupations  of  homely  country  folk. 
With  this  author  one  gets  very  near  to  the  simple 
heart  of  nature  and  of  natural  people.     Rose  Terry 
Cooke  achieved  a  notable  success  with  her  short  stories, 
presenting   vividly   the   grimly   humorous 
aspects  of  New  England  character,  as  in  c°^e  erry 
"  Miss  Lucinda  "  and  "  The  Deacon's  Week."   1827-1892 
A  strong  contrast  to  these  bucolic  writers   Ha/"e  *  *«res" 

cott  Spofford, 

is  found  in  the  work  of  Harriet  Prescott   1835- 


Spofford,  whose  «  Amber  Gods."  "  Midsum- 

Deland,  1857- 

mer  and  May,"  and  other  short  stories  dis 
play  a   luxuriant   and   romantic   imagination   "fairly 
resplendent   in   color,  rich   in   tone,  and   Oriental  in 
perfume."     One  of  the  strongest  writers  of  this  group 
is  Margaret  Deland,  who  in  '"  John  Ward,  Preacher  " 
and  "Sydney  "  grapples  boldly  with  profound  problems 
without  disturbing  the  balance  of  fine  literary  values. 
Of  present  New  England  novelists  the  most  famous, 
and  probably  the  most  certain  of  permanent  fame,  is 
Mary  Eleanor  Wilkins  who,  in  the  judg-  MaryEleanor 
ment  of  many  critics,  deserves  to  be  placed  wiikins, 
among  the  greatest  novelists  of  the  period. 
She  describes  with  a  powerful,  almost  painful  realism, 
local  types  and  scenery,  lean-faced  farmers,  gaunt  and 
colorless   old   maids,    gossiping   housewives,    Puritan 


456  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

consciences,  primitive  passions  that  stir  the  souls  of 
homely  people  the  limit  of  whose  world  is  the  village 
post-office.  "  A  Humble  Komance  and  Other  Stories," 
1887,  "  A  New  England  Nun,"  and  "  Pembroke,"  rep 
resent  her  characteristic  power  and  method.  "  Giles 
Corey,  Yeoman,"  was  a  dramatic  experiment  of  strik 
ing  force,  and  some  of  her  more  recent  work,  as  "  The 
Heart's  Highway,"  shows  an  inclination  to  recede 
somewhat  from  her  rigid  realism,  in  the  direction  of 
romanticism. 

From  the  scores  of  novelists  who  have  won  an  undisputed 
success,  it  is  difficult  to  select  with  any  hope  of  justice  the  few 
who  can  be  named  in  a  subordinate  paragraph.  The  humor 
and  pathos  of  New  England  life  are  strongly  depicted  by 
John  Townsend  Trowbridge  (1827-  ),  in  "Neighbor  Jack- 
wood,"  "Coupon  Bonds,"  and  many  other  stories,  and  in  his 

quaint  poems  of  the  soil,  like  the  "Vagabonds." 
The  Lesser  The  breezy  out-of-door  novel  "John  Brent"  will 
Novelists 

keep  the  name  of  Theodore  Winthrop  (1828-1861) 

green,  and  perhaps  commend  his  other  stories.  With  Win- 
throp  perished,  in  the  Civil  War,  the  brilliant  Irish-American 
Fitz-James  O'Brien  (1828-1861),  whose  "Diamond  Lens"  and 
other  short  tales  do  not  suffer  in  comparison  with  the  tales  of 
Foe.  Another  forgotten  New  York  novelist  is  Herman  Mel 
ville  (1819-1891),  whose  "Typee"  and  "Omoo,"  containing 
his  adventures  while  a  captive  among  the  cannibals  of  the 
South  Sea  Islands,  were  once  the  sensation  of  two  continents. 
Two  powerful  and  artistic  novels  by  Arthur  Sherburn  Hardy 
(1847-  ),  " But  Yet  a  Woman "  and  "Passe  Rose,"  raised 
high  hopes  that  may  yet  be  fulfilled.  The  many  novels  of  Julian 
Hawthorne  (1846-  ),  some  of  them  remarkable  for  creative 
force,  like  "Archibald  Malmaison,"  show  the  inheritance  of  a 
literary  gift  from  his  distinguished  father,  from  which  achieve- 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        457 

inents  of  permanent  worth  might  reasonably  be  expected. 
Hjalmar  Iljorth  Boyesen  (1848-1895),  an  adopted  Norwegian, 
gathered  the  memories  of  his  native  land  into  the  stories  "  Gun- 
nar,"  "A  Norseman's  Pilgrimage,"  and  "Ilka  on  the  Hill 
top,"  which  were  written  with  a  free,  spontaneous  love  and 
romantic  fancy  that  disappear  in  his  later  novels,  when  he  had 
become  converted  to  the  realism  of  Howells  and  Tolstoi. 
Frances  Hodgson  Burnett  (1849-  )  will  be  affectionately  re 
membered  by  "That  Lass  o'  Lowrie's"  and  "Little  Lord  Faun- 
tleroy,"  notwithstanding  her  later  descent  to  the  methods  of 
the  naturalistic  school  of  fiction  and  the  sensational  stage  in 
her  "Lady  of  Quality." 

A  welcome  reaction  against  realism  and  naturalism  seems  to 
be  marked  by  the  enormous  popularity  of  recent  historical 
romances,  such  as  Lew  Wallace's  "  Ben  Hur," 
Mary  H.  Catherwood's  "The  Romance  of  Dol- 
lard,"  Edwin  Lassetter  Bynner's  "The  Begum's 
Daughter,"  Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell's  "Hugh  Wynne,"  Mary 
Johnston's  "To  Have  and  To  Hold,"  Paul  Leicester  Ford's 
"Janice  Meredith,"  Winston  Churchill's  "Richard  Carvel," 
and  Maurice  Thompson's  "Alice  of  Old  Vincennes."  This 
return  to  romanticism  shows  that  the  great  reading  public 
loves  a  story,  a  genuine  hero  and  heroine,  and  a  plot  well  filled 
with  incident  and  adventure.  One  characteristic  of  this  histor 
ical  fiction  reveals  the  influence  of  the  realistic  movement,  as 
well  as  the  scientific  method  in  recent  historical  writing.  The 
story  is  outlined  upon  a  background  of  real  history,  constructed 
by  the  novelist  with  a  painstaking  regard  for  accuracy  of  detail. 
In  fact,  the  tendency  is  toward  the  union  of  the  romantic  and 
realistic  methods  for  the  production  of  a  new  type  of  fiction  com 
bining  the  merits  of  both  methods ;  and  in  spite  of  those  critics 
who,  like  Brander  Matthews,  harbor  a  kind  of  academic  prejudice 
against  "  that  bastard  hybrid  of  fact  and  fancy  which  is  known 
as  the  historical  romance,"  1  criticism  is  reconciling  its  judgment 
to  the  instinctive  preferences  of  the  great  reading  public. 

1  The  Study  of  Fiction,  by  Brauder  Matthews,  in  "Counsel  upon 
the  Reading  of  Books,"  p.  173. 


458  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

THE   WEST   IN   LITERATURE 

The  marvelous  growth  of  the  West,  so  rapid  and 
so  extensive  that  history  cannot  keep  pace  with  it, 
is  the  most  conspicuous  feature  of  our  national  de 
velopment  since  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  Nothing 
in  the  century  of  our  national  life,  not  even  the  Civil 
AVar,  rivals  in  interest  and  significance  this  wonderful 
sweep  of  our  civilization  over  the  illimitable  spaces  of 
the  West.  As  the  new  political  power  of  this  great 
region  already  threatens  to  deprive  the  East  of  its 
Th  Lit  ra  supremacy  in  civil  affairs,  so  it  is  not 
ture  of  De-  unlikely  that  a  literature  will  be  developed 
of  corresponding  magnitude  and  strength. 
The  West  is  now  the  most  truly  democratic  section  of 
our  country,  and  so  far  as  American  literature  expresses 
American  democracy  it  will  almost  necessarily  be 
Western  in  its  spirit  and  flavor,  if  not  in  form.  There 
are  already  signs  of  local  pride  and  enthusiasm,  of 
free,  self-confident  expression,  of  high-wrought  pur 
pose  as  well  as  adventurous  experiment,  that  promise 
a  new  and  distinctive  contribution  to  our  national 
literary  types.  A  loyal  Western  author,  Hamlin 
Garland,  indulges  in  prophecy  that  is  significant, 
even  if  over-confident.  "It  is  my  sincere  convic 
tion,"  he  says,  "that  the  interior  is  to  be  henceforth 
the  real  America.  From  these  interior  spaces  of  the 
South  and  West  the  most  vivid  and  fearless  and 
original  expression  of  the  future  American  democracy 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        459 

will  come."  The  literature  already  springing  up  in  this 
section  "  is  to  be  a  literature  not  of  books,  but  of  life. 
It  will  draw  its  inspiration  from  original  contact  with 
men  and  with  nature."  l 

New  as  is  the  West  —  the  vast  agricultural  West, 
with  its  wire  fences  and  railroads  and  endless  acres 
of  wheat  and  corn  —  there  is  also  an  old  West,  the 
West  of  free  wind-swept  prairies,  with  the  buffalo,  the 
Indian,  the  gold-hunter,  and  the  emigrant  train.  The 
strange  and  fascinating  features  of  this  aboriginal  West 
afford  a  magnificent  background  for  the  poet  and  the 
novelist,  and  thus  far  comparatively  little  use  has  been 
made  of  this  rich  material.  The  first  representative 
work  in  this  field  came  from  the  mining  camps  of  the 
"  Argonauts  of  '49  "  in  the  poems  and  stories  of  Bret 
Harte. 

FKANCIS  BRET   HARTE 
1839-1902 

Francis  Bret  Harte  was  born  in  Albany,  in  1839, 
went  to  California  in  1854,  tried  teaching  and  mining, 
making  a  failure  of  both,  then  learned  printing,  and 
finally  exchanged  the  composing  stick  for  the  editor's 
pen.  Among  his  first  literary  attempts  were  the  "  Con 
densed  Novels,"  parodies  of  famous  works  of  fiction, 
contributed  to  the  Calif ornian.  In  1868  the  Overland 
Monthly  was  started,  with  Harte  as  editor,  and  in 
the  second  number  appeared  "The  Luck  of  Roaring 

1  Hamlin  Garland's  "  Crumbling  Idols,"  p.  156. 


460  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Camp,"  which  was  at  once  accepted  as  "  heralding  the 
rise  of  a  new  star  in  the  literary  heavens."  This  was 
First  and  soon  followed  by  "  The  Outcasts  of  Poker 
Best  work  Flat,"  generally  regarded  as  his  best  story. 
About  the  same  time  he  also  wrote  his  best  poems, 
"  John  Burns  of  Gettysburg,"  "  Plain  Language  from 
Truthful  James,"  "  The  Society  upon  the  Stanislaus," 
and  others.  In  1878  he  went  abroad  with  the  appoint 
ment  of  consul,  first  at  Crefeld,  Germany,  and  then  at 
Glasgow,  and  in  England  he  elected  to  make  his  home, 
where  his  popularity  has  continued  more  steadily  than 
in  his  own  country ;  for  the  wild  life  pictured  in  his 
stories  seems  to  meet  the  Englishman's  demand  for 
something  "  original "  in  American  literature. 

Bret  Harte  is  master  of  a  limited  field.  He  can 
make  vivid,  dramatic  sketches  of  the  rough  life  of 
a  mining  region  as  no  one  else  can.  He  can  bring 

out  with  startling  force  the  humor,  pathos, 
Geniu^6  an(^  tragedy  of  his  typical  characters, 

leather-faced  miners,  swaggering  specula 
tors,  gamblers,  and  degraded  women,  and  with  a 
broad  charity  he  can  find  some  redeeming  quality 
of  goodness  or  heroism  in  them  all.  But  he  cannot 
analyze  or  develop  character,  or  manage  a  plot.  His 
long  stories,  as  "  Gabriel  Conroy,"  are  but  series  of 
episodes.  Moreover,  his  literary  resources  appear  to 
be  confined  to  this  California!!  experience.  The  early 
stories  were  masterpieces  of  their  kind,  unequaled  by 
anything  in  his  later  work. 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        461 

"His  prose  idyls  of  the  camp  and  coast,"  says 
Stedman,  "even  more  than  his  ballads,  were  the 
vouchers  of  a  poet;  familiar  as  the  verse  at  once 

became,  it   is  far   less   creative   than   the 

His  Poetry 

stories.  Ihe  serious  portion  of  it,  except 
ing  a  few  dialect  pieces,  —  'Jim,'  'In  the  Tunnel,' 
etc.,  —  is  much  like  the  verse  of  Longfellow,  Whittier, 
and  Taylor ;  the  humorous  poems,  though  never  want 
ing  in  some  touch  of  nature,  are  apt  to  be  what  we  do 
not  recognize  as  American.  But  of  either  class  it  may 
be  said  that  it  is,  like  the  rhyming  of  his  master, 
Thackeray,  the  overflow  of  a  rare  genius,  whose  work 
must  be  counted  among  the  treasures  of  the  language." 

Class  Reading.  —  Poetry :  John  Burns  of  Gettysburg  ;  Plain 
Language  from  Truthful  James  ;  In  the  Tunnel ;  Jim  ;  Dickens 
in  Camp ;  The  Society  upon  the  Stanislaus. 

Prose  :  The  Outcasts  of  Poker  Flat ;  How  Santa  Glaus  came 
to  Simpson's  Bar ;  A  Ship  of  '49. 

EDWARD   EGGLESTON 
1837-1902 

The  pioneer  life  of  the  middle  West  found  its  first 
literary  representative  in  Edward  Eggleston,  who  has 
painted  in  most  vivid  colors  the  picturesque  charac 
ter  of  the  original  Hoosier.  Eggleston  was  born  in 
Indiana,  in  1837,  spent  some  years  as  an  itinerant 
Methodist  preacher,  edited  Sunday-school  journals  in 
Chicago,  came  to  New  York  in  1870,  became  editor  of 
Hearth  and  Home,  preached  five  years  in  Brooklyn,  and 


462  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

thenceforward  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  literature. 
In  1871  he  published  "  The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster," 
Hoosier  thus  opening  a  new  field  of  fiction  as  strange 
Novels  an(j  interesting  as  that  of  Bret  Harte.  This 

was  followed  by  «  The  Circuit  Eider,"  "  Eoxy,"  «  The 
Hoosier  Schoolboy,"  "The  Graysons,"  and  "The  Mys 
tery  of  Metropolisville,"  all  novels  of  the  soil,  fresh, 
vivid,  and  genuine,  growing  directly  out  of  personal 
experience.  "  The  scenes  are  rough,"  says  Richard 
son,  "and  the  characters  'tough,'  in  the  better  sense 
and  sometimes  in  the  worse ;  but  the  fidelity  with 
which  youth  and  age  in  the  backwoods  are  painted 
makes  the  books,  like  so  many  other  American  works, 
at  least  valuable  essays  toward  that  full  delineation  of 
the  whole  country  which  our  novelists  seem  surely, 
though  irregularly,  to  be  making." 

The  breadth  of  Dr.  Eggleston's  powers  has  been 
shown  in  later  years  by  a  change  of  scene  for  his  fiction. 
"The  Faith  Doctor,"  1891,  is  a  study  of  Christian 
Science  with  Xew  York  social  life  as  a  background. 
His  final  inclinations  seemed  to  be  toward  historical 
work.  The  first  two  volumes,  "  The  Beginners  of  a 
Nation"  and  "'The  Transit  of  Civilization,"  of  his 
projected  work,  "  A  History  of  Life  in  the  United' 
States,"  have  already  appeared.  To  the  completion  of 
this  large  undertaking  he  had  apparently  pledged  the 
strength  of  his  remaining  years. 

Reading  and  Discussion.  —  The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster ;  The 
Graysons. 


xj  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        463 

Out  of  the  Ohio  valley  came  Howells  to  New  York,  as  well 
as  Eggleston  and  the  Cary  sisters ;  and  four  poets  are  native 
there  who  have  a  strong  hold  upon  the  popular  heart,  Hay, 
Piatt,  Riley,  and  Edith  Thomas.     John  Hay  (1838-        )  has 
never  returned  to  the  field  of  his  first  success  in  "  Pike  County 
Ballads,"  and  the  promise  given  in  the  delightful  volume  of  Span 
ish  sketches,  "Castilian  Days,"  has  not  been  fulfilled.     He  was 
private  secretary  to  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  his  mas 
sive  "  Abraham  Lincoln  ;  a  History,"  written  with    Some  West' 
T  u        i     XT-     i         •     1-1  era  Poets 

John  G.   Nicolay,  is  likely  to  remain  one  of  the 

great  standard  works  upon  the  period.  John  James  Piatt 
(1835-  ),  the  "  Whittier  of  the  West,"  in  his  "Poems  of 
Sunshine  and  Firelight,"  and  other  volumes  of  sweet  idyllic 
verse,  has  won  the  right  to  be  called  "the  laureate  of  prairie 
and  homestead  life."  James  Whitcomb  Riley  (1852-  )  is 
"  the  Iloosier  poet "  of  to-day,  who  pipes  his  country  ditties  in 
quaint  and  homely  dialect  with  genuine  humor  and  poetic  spirit. 
"The  Old  Swimmin'-hole  and  'Leveu  More  Poems"  appeared 
in  1883,  followed  by  many  other  volumes  that  prove  him  to  be 
at  present  our  leading  dialect  poet.  Edith  Matilda  Thomas 
(1854-  ),  a  poet  of  secure  and  increasing  fame,  has  given  us, 
in  such  volumes  as  "  In  Sunshine  Land  "  and  "  A  Winter  Swal 
low,  and  Other  Verse,"  daintily  finished  lyrics,  sweet  with  the 
perfume  of  woods  and  fields.  Children  have  reason  to  mourn 
the  loss  of  Eugene  Field  (1850-1895),  who  won  the  hearts  of 
"grown-ups"  as  well  with  his  humorous,  tender,  dainty,  and 
fantastic  little  songs.  He  will  be  long  remembered  if  only  for 
the  sake  of  his  "  Little  Boy  Blue."  In  Michigan  Will  Carleton 
(1845-  )  wrote  his  "Farm  Ballads"  and  "Farm  Legends," 
before  transferring  his  residence  to  the  East.  A  poet  of  home 
and  the  domestic  affections,  he  caught  at  once  the  popular  ear 
with  "  Over  the  Hill  to  the  Poor-house"  and  "The  First  Set 
tler's  Story,"  and  he  has  since  worked  with  wide  success  this 
vein  of  simple  feeling  and  homely  speech. 

A  picturesque  representative  of  the  remote  West  and  its  spirit 
as  embodied  in  verse  is  Cincinnatus  Heine  Miller,  known  in 
literature  as  Joaquin  Miller,  a  Rocky  Mountain  Byron,  whose 


464  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

"  Songs  of  the  Sierras,"  "Songs  of  the  Sunlands,"  "  Songs  of  the 

Desert,"  and  other  collections,  excited  a  temporary  enthusiasm, 

especially  in  England,  that  led  to  an  extravagant 

Joaquin  estimate  of  his  poetic  merits.     His  volumes  show 

Miller.  1841- 

an  impetuous  imagination,  a  bold  originality  and 

windy  freshness,  often  a  tropical  richness  of  color,  and  an  expres 
sion  sometimes  strongly  effective  in  picturing  the  wild  beauty  of 
mountain  and  desert,  but  perversely  disobedient  to  the  funda 
mental  rules  of  rhetoric.  Indeed  his  limitations  are  due,  not  so 
much  to  the  lack  of  creative  power,  as  to  an  untutored  taste  and 
a  disposition  to  be  satisfied  with  bizarre  and  sensational  effects. 
He  is  a  child  of  nature,  but  of  nature  only  in  her  vast  and 
magnificent  rudeness,  as  known  to  him  in  his  early  pioneer 
experience. 

Fiction  rather  than  poetry  is  yet  the  representative  form  of 
literature  in  the  West.  The  mining  districts  of  Montana  and 
Idaho  have  a  sympathetic  interpreter  in  Mary  Halleck  Foote 
(1847-  ),  whose  characteristic  work  is  represented  by  "  The 
Led-horse  Claim,"  "John  Bodewin's  Testimony,"  and  "The 
Last  Assembly  Ball."  The  name  of  Mary  Hartwell  Gather- 
wood  (1847-1902)  was  placed  high  in  the  list  of  native  novelists 
by  the  striking  historical  novel,  "The  Romance  of  Dollard." 
Alice  French,  whose  pen  name  is  "  Octave  Thaiiet,"  has  drawn 
much  literary  interest  to  the  canebrakes  of  Arkansas  and  the 
small  towns  of  the  middle  West  with  her  strong,  dramatic  short 
stories,  represented  by  "Knitters  in  the  Sun,"  "Otto  the 
Knight,"  and  "  Stories  of  a  Western  Town."  A  novelist 
whose  books  deserve  a  second  reading  is  Constance  Fenimore 
Woolson  (1838-1894),  representing  the  lake  region  of  the  West 
in  her  "  Castle  Nowhere,"  and  the  South,  in  the  early  years  of 
reconstruction,  in  the  volume  of  tender  and  pathetic  stories 
entitled  "Rodman  the  Keeper."  Her  novel  "Anne"  was 
pronounced  by  the  London  Spectator  to  be  "  one  of  the  best 
novels  America  has  produced  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century." 
Army  life  on  the  Western  frontier  during  the  past  twenty  years 
is  vividly  presented  in  the  stories  of  Captain  Charles  King 
(1844-  ).  Hamlin  Garland  (1860-  .  )  pictures  the  hard, 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        465 

prosaic,  uninspiring  features  of  the  Western  farmer's  life  ;  his 
best^known  works  are  "Main  Travelled  Roads,"  "Prairie 
Folks,"  "  Rose  of  Dutcher's  Coolly,"  and  "The  Eagle's  Heart." 
With  a  similar  fidelity  Stanley  Waterloo  paints,  in  "A  Man 
and  a  Woman,"  the  life  of  the  upper  Mississippi  valley.  The 
largest  expectations,  perhaps,  have  been  raised  by  Henry  Blake 
Fuller  (1857-  ),  who  in  "The  Cliff-dwellers"  and  "With 
the  Procession"  has  described,  perhaps  with  unwarranted 
emphasis,  certain  phases  of  the  social  life  of  the  Western 
metropolis. 

AMERICAN   HUMOR 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  America  has  produced 
an  original  type  of  humor,  which,  however  difficult 
of  definition,  is  unmistakable  in  its  main  character 
istics.  The  shrewd,  calculating,  keen-witted  Yankee, 
serenely  confident  and  good-natured,  as  represented  by 
"Brother  Jonathan,"  has  impressed  his  unique  person 
ality  strongly  upon  our  literature;  but  injustice  has 
been  done  to  our  humorous  genius,  especially  by  foreign 
admirers,  by  exalting  the  more  crude  and  vulgar  mani 
festations  of  this  character.  The  perverted  spelling 
of  "  Josh  Billings,"  the  inimitable  foolery  Two  Types 
of  "Artemus  Ward,"  and  the  perennial  of  Humor 
waggery  of  the  "  funny  man  "  of  the  newspapers  are 
not  so  truly  representative  of  American  humor  as  the 
refined  literary  products  of  "  Hosea  Biglow "  and 
the  "  Autocrat."  Indeed,  an  improving  taste  is  dem 
onstrating  that  humorous  expression  does  not  need 
to  be  rude,  boisterous,  and  vulgar  in  order  to  be  Ameri 
can.  Our  finest  humor  to-day  is  found  in  the  work  of 
2a 


466  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

such  writers  as  Stockton,  Howells,  Kate  Douglas 
"\Viggin,  Mary  Wilkins,  and  Robert  Grant,  where 
it  appears  as  a  delicate  and  graceful  literary 
quality  —  a  flavor  rather  than  an  independent  sub 
stance —  that  vitalizes  its  subject  with  permanent 
interest.  The  saving  grace  of  much  of  our  contem 
porary  fiction  is  this  quality  of  piquant  and  pervasive 
humor, 

American  humor  can  better  be  described  than  de 
nned  Its  basis  is  a  strong,  native  common  sense. 
Underneath  its  drollery  there  is  generally  some  hard 
fact  of  experience  or  wise  criticism  of  life.  It  is 
fresh,  spontaneous,  and  wholesome,  with  no  bitterness 

r       .       in  its  jests  or  poisonous  sting.    It  possesses 

tics  of  Ameri-   an  extraordinary  aptitude  for  the  incon- 

can  Humor  T      i         m     j_- 

gruous,  and   makes  a  peculiarly  effective 

use  of  contradiction  and  anti-climax ;  as  in  Artemus 
Ward's  advice,  "  Always  live  within  your  income, 
if  you  have  to  borrow  money  to  do  it,"  or  in  the 
homely  maxims  of  Josh  Billings,  as  "  It  is  better  to 
kno  less  than  to  kno  so  mutch  that  ain't  so."  It  is 
often  flippant  and  irreverent,  treating  with  equal 
liberty  things  sacred  and  profane,  exhibiting  a  per 
verse  delight  in  discovering  the  comic  side  of  serious 
things,  and  making  an  audacious  use  of  scriptural 
thought  and  phraseology.  Finally,  its  most  salient 
characteristic  is  extravagant  and  whimsical  exaggera 
tion.  Its  favorite  figure  is  hyperbole,  as  in  Lowell's 
description  of  the  negro  who  was  '•'  so  black  that 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS  AND  TENDENCIES       467 

charcoal  made  a  chalk  mark  upon  him."  A  sweep 
of  exaggeration  as  broad  as  a  prairie  is  combined 
with  the  utmost  gravity  of  statement;  the  most 
inherently  absurd  proposition  is  presented  with  the 
most  soberfaced  seriousness.  Much  of  the  prepos 
terous  American  boasting  is  merely  humor  of  this 
kind. 

In  studying  humorous  literature,  especially  Ameri 
can,  it  is  important  to  keep  in  mind  the  fundamental 
distinction  between  wit  and  humor.  This  distinction 
Lowell  has  not  only  amply  illustrated  in  his  writings, 
but  has  also  lucidly  defined :  "  We  find  it 

Wit  and 

very  natural  to  speak  of  the  breadth  of  Humor 
humor,  while  wit  is  by  the  necessity  of  its 
being  as  narrow  as  a  flash  of  lightning,  and  as  sudden. 
Humor  may  pervade  a  whole  page  without  our  being 
able  to  put  our  finger  on  any  passage  and  say,  '  It  is 
here.'  Wit  must  sparkle  and  snap  in  every  line  or  it 
is  nothing.  .  .  .  Wit  demands  only  a  clear  and  nimble 
intellect,  presence  of  mind,  and  a  happy  faculty  of  ex 
pression.  This  perfection  of  phrase,  this  neatness,  is 
an  essential  of  wit,  because  its  effect  must  be  instan 
taneous  ;  whereas  humor  is  often  diffuse  and  round 
about,  and  its  impression  cumulative  like  the  poison 
of  arsenic." 

The  original  Yankee  of  humorous  literature,  the 
progenitor  of  "  Hosea  Biglow,"  was  "  Major  Jack 
Downing,"  created  by  Seba  Smith  in  the  "Downing 
Letters"  of  about  1830.  From  "jest  about  the  middle 


468  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

of  down  East "  this  hero,  like  Lowell's  hero,  sent  his 
impressions  of  public  events  to  a  local  newspaper,  the 
Portland  Courier.  From  these  papers  Charles  Farrar 
Browne,  "Artemus  Ward,"  probably  caught  his  first 
comic  inspiration.  Moreover,  while  working  in  a 
Boston  printing  office  Browne  set  the  type  for  Saxe's 
witty  verses  and  Shillaber's  "  Mrs.  Partington."  But 
the  popular  "  lecture  bureau  "  of  the  period  furnished 
him  with  the  most  prolific  hint.  Devising  a  "  pano 
rama,"  consisting  of  grotesquely  poor  pictures,  and 
constructing  an  irrelevant  and  incoherent  discourse  to 
accompany  it,  he  poked  fun  at  the-  eminent  lecturers 
by  becoming  an  eminent  lecturer  himself  His  "show  " 

became  immensely  popular  at  home  and 
Charles  Farrar 

Browne,  abroad.     An  English  author  who  heard 

him  still  regards  his  "showman"  as  "one 
of  the  most  realistic  and  irresistibly  captivating  crea 
tions  of  modern  fiction."  His  originality  was  quite 
unique.  To  his  mind  the  world  appeared  upside 
down ;  the  grotesque  or  absurd  side  of  everything  was 
to  him  the  natural  side.  Nothing  was  too  serious  to 
be  comic,  nothing  too  simple  to  be  converted  to  the 
purposes  of  wit.  The  point  of  his  jest  is  usually  in  a 
sudden  twist  given  to  the  commonplace  that  upsets  it 
and  reveals  some  unexpected  fact  or  phase,  as  in  his 
remark  that  "  an  occasional  joke  improves  a  comic 
paper."  In  his  satire  he  was  generally  wise  and  just, 
ridiculing  only  things  that  deserve  ridicule.  His  best 
witticisms  that  are  still  current  may  be  found  in  "  Ar- 


PRESENT    SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        469 


temus  Ward :  His  Book,"  "  Artemus  Ward  in  London," 
and  "  Artemus  Ward  :  His  Panorama."  Much  of  the 
peculiar  flavor  of  his  humor,  arising  largely  from  an 
extraordinary,  laughter-provoking  simplicity  of  per 
sonal  manner,  has  evaporated  from  the  printed  page, 
and  his  fame,  like  that  of  the  actor,  is  becoming  a 
memory  of  the  oldest  play-goers. 

Out  of  the  aboriginal  West  came  our  most  cele 
brated  humorist,  Samuel  Langhorne  Clemens,  known 
throughout      the     circuit 
of    the   globe   as   "Mark 
Twain."      He   was    born 
in  Missouri,  and  his  early 
years  were  spent  in  the 
"loafing,    out -at -elbows, 
down-at-the-heels,     slave- 
holding"   town   of    Han 
nibal.      It   was   a   crude, 
elemental    life,    unpropi- 
tious  enough  for  the  de 
velopment      of      literary 
tastes.      At    thirteen    he 
began  his  career  by  learn 
ing  the  printer's  trade.      His  earliest  ambition  as  a 
boy   was   to   be   a   steamboat   man,   and    the   roving 
printer  became  for  five  years  a  Missis-  SamuelLang. 
sippi  river  pilot.     An  adventurous  trip   home  Clemens, 
to   Nevada    furnished    the   material   for 
"  Eoughing  It,"  one  of  our  best  books  of  wild  West- 


Mark  Twain 


470  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

ern  experience.  He  tried  mining  without  success, 
then  tried  journalism  for  a  time,  and  in  San  Fran 
cisco  tried  a  lecture,  the  announcement  of  which 
ended :  "  Doors  open  at  1\.  The  trouble  will  begin 
at  8."  It  was  a  success,  and  was  soon  repeated  in 
New  York,  a  success  that  was  destined  to  be  repeated 
in  "  lecture  tours  "  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

In  1867  appeared  his  first  volume  of  humorous 
sketches,  entitled  "The  Celebrated  Jumping  Frog." 
The  same  year  he  visited  the  Old  World,  and  two 
years  later  published  "  The  Innocents  Abroad,"  which 
speedily  brought  him  both  fame  and  fortune.  A  half 
million  copies  of  this  book  have  been  sold.  This  was 
followed  by  a  long  list  of  books,  many  of  which  have 
reached  a  similarly  phenomenal  popularity,  being  re- 
published  wherever  the  English  language  is  under 
stood,  and  translated  into  the  leading  languages  of 
Europe.  The  narrative  of  a  second  trip  to  Europe  is 
Principal  contained  in  "A  Tramp  Abroad."  "Tom 
Works  Sawyer "  and  "  Huckleberry  Finn,"  sup 

posedly  autobiographic,  are  astonishingly  clever  stud 
ies  of  the  American  bad  boy.  His  best  autobiographic 
narrative  is  "Life  on  the  Mississippi."  Indeed,  to 
this  majestic  river  he  owes  his  finest  inspiration ; 
wherever  it  flows  through  his  work,  there  is  a  breadth 
and  eloquence  of  expression  that  could  come  only 
from  native  affection.  The  Mississippi  belongs  to 
Mark  Twain  as  the  Hudson  belongs  to  Irving.  "  The 
Prince  and  the  Pauper  "  and  "  A  Connecticut  Yankee  in 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        471 

King  Arthur's  Court,"  are  English  stories  with  care 
fully  studied  historical  backgrounds.  In  the  latter, 
in  the  spirit  of  Don  Quixote,  he  indulges  in  a  rollick 
ing  tilt  against  the  rose-colored  chivalry  of  the  "  Morte 
<T Arthur  "  and  the  "  Idylls  of  the  King."  "  Personal 
Recollections  of  Joan  of  Arc,"  in  which  the  story  of 
the  miraculous  maid  is  told  soberly,  almost  reverently, 
was  published  anonymously,  as  if  to  test  his  claim  to 
the  rights  of  serious  authorship. 

Mark  Twain  enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  univer 
sally  regarded  as  the  "first  of  living  humorists,"  an  emi 
nence  due  in  large  measure  to  his  extensive  popularity 
as  a  public  jester.  But  he  is  more  than  "the  privileged 
comedian  of  the  republic,"  more  than  a  professional  fun- 
maker  for  the  millions.  He  possesses  a  true  literary  gift, 
and  exercises  a  trained  literary  skill.  "  No  American 
author  to-day,"  says  Brander  Matthews,  "has  at  his 
command  a  style  more  nervous,  more  varied,  more 
flexible,  or  more  direct  than  Mark  Twain."  He  sees 
things  with  remarkable  clearness,  and  describes  them 
with  clean-cut,  effective  expression.  The  accurate 
and  comprehensive  pictures  of  the  crude  society  in 
which  he  was  born  are  invaluable  merely  for  the  his 
tory  they  record.  His  ingenious  fancy  seems  to  be 
inexhaustible  in  its  creative  resources,  producing  with 
natural  ease  the  most  astonishing  extrava-  Literary 
gances,  elaborately  finished  with  photo-  Quallties 
graphic  minuteness  of  detail.  Beneath  his  picturesque 
exaggeration  there  is  generally  a  foundation  of  good 


472  AMERICAN    LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

sense ;  one  recognizes  a  certain  unexpected  sanity  and 
justice  in  his  judgments.  He  is  an  interpreter  of  life 
and  men,  not  like  Holmes,  through  culture,  but  through 
experience.  He  has  the  spirit,  without  the  self-con 
sciousness  of  the  reformer.  He  hates  sham  and  cant, 
and  against  both  makes  a  legitimate  use  of  satire. 
His  humor  is  not  copied  from  others  or  cultivated 
from  books.  The  emphatic  Yankee  element  in  his 
nature,  the  kinship  with  Franklin  and  Lincoln,  is  the 
source  of  his  power.  "He  seldom  flashes  like  Arte- 
nius,"  says  Haweis ;  "  he  distils  his  fun  drop  by  drop 
through  a  whole  page,  instead  of  condensing  it  into  a 
sentence."  One  characteristic  seriously  mars  his  work. 
A  vein  of  coarseness  too  frequently  crops  out,  which 
is  not  justified  even  by  the  elemental  rudeness  of  the 
material  with  which  he  deals.  His  elaborately  con 
trived  jests  sometimes  approach  vulgarity.  It  is, 
however,  a  difficult  matter  for  a  humorist  to  pre 
serve  the  nice  balance  of  taste  required  to  discrimi 
nate  between  cleverness  and  coarseness. 

Class  Reading.  —  The  Innocents  Abroad  ;  Life  on  the  Mis 
sissippi  ;  The  £1,000,000  Bank  Note  ;  The  Man  that  Corrupted 
Hadleyburg ;  My  First  Lie  and  How  I  Got  Out  of  It ;  Private 
History  of  the  "Jumping  Frog"  Story  ;  The  Stolen  White  Ele 
phant  ;  Speech  on  the  Weather. 

THE   ESSAY-NATURALISTS 

The  great  intellectual  interests  of  the  present  age 
are  scientific.  The  broad  scientific  movement  of  the 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        473 

last  fifty  years,  which  might  be  succinctly  defined  as 
an  effort  to  obtain  a  more  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
underlying  truth  of  things,  has  profoundly  affected 
every  department  of  art  and  life.  On  the  physical 
side  human  life  may  almost  be  said  to  have  been 
transformed,  and  in  respect  to  the  ideals 

Scientific 

of  art  and  religion  the  revolution  is  hardly  Movement  of 
less  complete.  The  leaders  of  human  effort  the  Age 
to-day  are  not  the  truth-makers,  prophets,  and  seers, 
but  the  truth-seekers,  the  patient  devotees  of  fact,  who 
give  themselves  to  the  work  of  interpreting  the  phe 
nomena  of  nature  and  determining  the  laws  governing 
her  processes.  To  the  idea  of  God  manifest  in  the 
soul  of  man  has  been  added  the  idea  of  God  manifest 
in  the  soul  of  nature.  The  prophets  of  these  latter 
days  have  been  Darwin,  Tyndall,  Huxley,  and  Spencer, 
and  our  own  Gray,  Dana,  and  Agassiz.  There  coidd 
not  but  be  losses  attendant  upon  such  a  reactionary 
movement  as  the  age  is  witnessing,  but  there  are 
greater  gains  in  the  new  and  varied  interests  that  have 
been  aAvakened,  and  in  the  broader  and  deeper  signifi 
cance  given  to  life  itself. 

Out  of  the  scientific  interest  has  grown  a  new  form 
of  literature,  the  particular  mission  of  ANewLiter- 
which  is  to  correlate  more  closely  human  ary  Motive 
life  Avith  the  life  of  the  outward  world.  The  impulse 
was  first  felt  by  the  poets.  Ever  since  the  outflow  of 
Burns's  sympathy  to  the  field  mouse,  — 

Wee,  sleekit,  cow'rin,  tim'rous  beastie, 


474  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

and  the  expression  of  Wordsworth's  peculiar  creed 
that  so  startled  the  orthodox, — 

And  'tis  my  faith  that  every  flower 
Enjoys  the  air  it  breathes, 

the  tendency  of  poetry  has  been  toward  the  humaniz 
ing  of  nature,  the  establishing  of  a  genuine  human 
relationship  with  all  living  things  in  the  out-of-door 
world  through  intimate  knowledge  and  tender  sym 
pathy.  Drawing  its  inspiration  from  both  poets  and 
scientists,  a  school  of  prose  writers  has  arisen  that  is 
exerting  a  rapidly  increasing  influence  by  adding  to 
the  realm  of  culture  the  infinitely  varied  sources  of 
enjoyment  in  woods  and  fields.  The  school  is  repre 
sented  in  England  by  Richard  Jefferies,  author  of  the 
"  Gamekeeper  at  Home,"  and  in  our  own  country  by 
John  Burroughs.  In  the  library  these  writers  are 
essayists,  and  in  the  open  air  they  are  naturalists. 
Let  us  call  them,  therefore,  essay-naturalists. 

The  essay-naturalist's  view-point  or  approach  to 
nature  is  that  of  the  poet  and  artist  rather  than  that 
of  the  scientist.  Science  is  impersonal ;  it  observes, 
classifies,  and  records  facts  for  truth's  sake  alone. 
Literature  is  personal ;  it  observes  and  records,  but 
The  Literary  records  facts  as  colored  by  individual  feel- 
scientist  jng  an(j  thought.  The  distinction  is  well 
described  by  Burroughs.  Deprecating  the  methods  of 
the  "calculating  nature-students"  who  work  with 
microscope  and  gather  only  "  specimens  "  for  a  collec- 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        475 

tion,  he  describes  his  own  method:  "I  have  loved 
nature  and  spent  many  of  my  days  in  the  fields  and 
woods  in  as  close  intimacy  with  her  varied  forms  of 
life  as  I  could  bring  about,  but  a  student  of  nature  in 
any  strict  scientific  sense  I  have  not  been.  What 
knowledge  I  possess  of  her  creatures  and  ways  has 
come  to  me  through  contemplation  and  enjoyment, 
rather  than  through  deliberate  study  of  her.  I  have 
been  occupied  more  with  the  spirit  than  with  the  letter 
of  her  works.  In  our  time,  it  seems  to  me,  too  much 
stress  is  laid  upon  the  letter."  This  is  the  kind  of 
knowledge,  he  says,  "that  reaches  and  affects  the 
character  and  becomes  a  grown  part  of  us.  We  absorb 
this  as  we  absorb  the  air,  and  it  gets  into  the  blood." 

These  students  are  not  less  curious  and  enthusiastic 
than  the  scientists  about  the  facts  of  the  physical 
world,  and  are  often  quite  as  patient  and  painstaking 
observers ;  but  the  impetus  comes  to  their  work  from 
the  heart  rather  than  from  the  head.  The  realization 
of  a  kinship  with  all  living  things  is  a  new  source  of 
inspiration.  It  was  a  true  thought  of  Robert  Louis 
Stevenson's  that  "  to  live  close  to  nature  is  to  keep  your 
soul  alive."  Such  living  is  growth  and  progress  in  all 
the  virtues.  Through  beauty  and  sympathy  nature 
appeals  to  man  as  man  appeals  to  his  fellows.  The 
new  relationship  is  well  expressed  by  one  of  the 
younger  poets,  Bliss  Carman :  — 

Over  the  shoulders  and  slopes  of  the  dune 
I  saw  the  white  daisies  go  down  to  the  sea, 


476  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP 

A  host  in  the  sunshine,  a  snowdrii,  in  June, 
The  people  God  sends  us  to  set  our  hearts  free. 


JOHN  BURROUGHS 
1837- 

The  founder  of  the  school  of  essay-naturalists  was 
Thoreau,  whose  "Walden"  was  to  America  what  Gil 
bert  White's  "Natural  History  of  Selborne"  was  to 
England,  a  revelation  and  a  prophecy  concerning  a 
new  kingdom  on  earth.  We  must  not  forget  the  earlier 
pioneer  work  of  the  ornithologists,  Wilson  and  Audu- 
bon,  whose  personal  records  of  adventure  in  birdland 
possess  the  interest  almost  of  romance.  It  was 
Thoreau,  however,  who  first  brought  scholarship  into 
touch  with  wild  life,  through  the  medium  of  a  minute 
and  affectionate  personal  interest.  Once  having  read 
his  books,  the  public  could  never  relapse  wholly  into 
its  former  indifference  toward  nature,  and  thus  the 
way  was  prepared  for  his  successors.  The  most  dis 
tinguished  disciple  of  Thoreau  is  John  Burroughs,  who 
for  more  than  thirty  years  through  his  fresh-hearted 
essays  has  been  exercising  the  charms  of  a  fascinating 
companionship  in  the  fields. 

John  Burroughs  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Roxbury, 
N.  Y.  He  had  only  the  ordinary  opportunities  for 
Education  of  education  afforded  by  a  farming  comrnu- 
a  Naturalist  nity,  but  he  had  more  than  the  ordinary 
desire  for  education.  To  obtain  books  he  tapped  the 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES 

maple  trees  and  sold  the  sugar  in  the  earliest  ma 
The  best  part  of  his  education,  however,  as  he  hii 
regards  it,  was  obtained  from  the  intimate  associa 
tion  of  his  boyhood  with  the  life  of  the  out-of-door 
world.  "  I  was  born,"  he  says,  "  of  and  among  people 
who  neither  read  books  nor  cared  for  them."  And  to 
this  " unliterary  environment,"  he  says  is  due,  "prob 
ably  what  little  freshness  and  primal  sweetness  my 
books  contain."  "No  one,"  he  adds,  "starts  in  the 
study  of  natural  history  with  such  advantages  as  he 
whose  youth  was  passed  on  the  farm.  He  has  already 
got  a  great  deal  of  it  in  his  blood  and  bones;  he  has 
grown  up  in  right  relations  with  man  and  beast ;  the 
study  comes  easy  and  natural  to  him." 

For  about  nine  years  Burroughs  was  a  school-teacher, 
and  for  another  nine  years  he  held  a  position  in  the 
Treasury  Department  at  Washington,  and  then  he  was 
appointed  by  government  as  a  bank-examiner.  In  1874 
he  returned  to  his  original  profession  of  farming,  upon 
a  few  choice  acres  in  Esopus  on  the  Hudson.  Here 
is  his  home,  "Kiverby,"  beautifully  characteristic  in 
all  its  details  of  the  man  and  his  tastes,  where  he 
divides  his  time  between  literature  and  fruit  culture. 
A  mile  from  the  house,  by  a  foot-path  over  the  hills, 
is  "  Slabsides,"  his  favorite  retreat  in  the  woods. 
Here  he  reads  and  writes  and  exchanges  confidences 
with  the  neighborly  squirrels  and  birds,  maintaining 
a  sort  of  domestic  relationship  with  all  living  things 
about  him.  He  loves  nature's  solitudes,  yet  he  does 


478  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

not,  hermit-like,  renounce  society.  He  visits  the  city 
occasionally,  and  now  and  then  gives  a  lecture.  But 
"  three  or  four  days  in  the  city,"  he  says,  "  is  about 
all  I  can  stand  at  a  time." 

The  felicitous  titles  chosen  by  Burroughs  for  his 
books  are  always  pleasantly  suggestive  of  their  con 
tents.  Such  titles  as  " Wake-Robin,"  "Winter  Sun 
shine,"  "  Locusts  and  Wild  Honey,"  "  Fresh  Fields," 
and  "  Squirrels  and  Other  Fur  Bearers "  are  rich 
The  Secret  promises  of  open-air  delights.  He  writes 
of  his  style  only  when  moved  by  inclination,  never  "  to 
order,"  and  therefore  the  quality  is  always  his  best. 
His  style  is  simple  and  natural,  colloquial  in  its  direct 
ness,  showing  the  desire  merely  to  report  in  a  straight 
forward,  honest  manner  what  he  has  seen  and  felt. 
With  the  peculiar  earnestness  of  his  loving  interest 
in  an  object,  he  assumes  the  sympathetic  interest  of 
his  reader  and  makes  him  his  companion  and  confi 
dant.  "  What  I  feel  I  can  express,"  he  says,  "  and 
only  what  I  feel.  If  I  had  run  after  the  birds  only 
to  write  about  them,  I  never  should  have  written  any 
thing  that  any  one  would  care  to  read.  I  must  write 
from  sympathy  and  love,  or  not  at  all."  Elsewhere 
he  gives  this  neat  bit  of  advice  :  "  You  must  have  the 
bird  in  your  heart  before  you  can  find  it  in  the  bush." 

With  this  directness  and  simplicity,  that  seem  to  be 
concerned  merely  with  the  plain  record  of  facts,  there 
is  always  a  distinct  literary  flavor.  Burroughs  is  a 
man  of  books,  as  well  as  a  man  of  the  woods.  The 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        479 

volume  "Indoor  Studies,"  containing  his  essays  in  lit 
erary  criticism,  proves  that  his  judgment  in  a  matter 
of  literary  values  may  be  quite  as  significant  Literary 
as  in  the  matter  of  a  high-hole's  method  Growth 
of  nest-building.  Among  the  first  books  purchased 
by  Burroughs  was  a  set  of  Dr.  Johnson's  essays,  and 
after  the  ponderous  sentences  of  the  "Rambler"  he 
attempted  to  model  his  style.  Then  Emerson's  works 
came  into  his  experience,  giving  a  new  direction  to 
both  thought  and  style.  And  then  came  Whitman, 
whose  "  great  humanizing  power  "  he  regards  as  the 
strongest  influence  exercised  upon  him  through  books. 
To  Matthew  Arnold  he  gives  credit  for  having  taught 
him  to  think  clearly  and  write  clearly.  With  all  the 
great  masters  of  modern  literature  he  is  familiar,  but 
to  original,  elemental  personalities,  like  Emerson,  Car- 
lyle,  and  Whitman,  he  is  especially  drawn,  because  in 
these  he  finds  the  same  directness  and  sincerity  that 
he  finds  in  nature.  The  rough,  bold,  unacademic  ex 
pression  of  such  writers  is  to  him  like  the  language 
of  winds,  and  waterfalls,  and  the  untaught  birds.  But 
this  preference  does  not  prevent  him  from  appreci 
ating  the  more  gracioiis  and  artistic  influences  of 
literature.  Everywhere  in  his  writing  are  touches  of 
artistic  beauty,  descriptions  of  idyllic  grace,  facts 
of  observation  illuminated  by  fanciful  suggestion  and 
finely  chosen  literary  allusion,  and  strokes  of  imagina 
tive  coloring  that  clearly  indicate  the  kinship  of  his 
genius  with  that  of  the  true  poets. 


480  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

Burroughs  is  naturally  compared  with  Thoreau, 
whom  at  many  points  he  resembles,  and  to  whom  at 
many  more  points  he  is  superior.  Their  comparative 
qualities  Mabie  thus  summarizes :  "  Burroughs,  like 
Thoreau,  is  strictly  indigenous ;  he  could  not  have 
grown  in  any  other  soil.  Our  literature  betrays,  in 
Burroughs  almost  every  notable  work,  the  presence 
and  Thoreau  of  foreign  influences ;  but  Thoreau  and 
Burroughs  have  been  fed  by  the  soil,  and  have  repro 
duced  in  flower  and  fruit  something  of  its  distinctive 
quality.  Of  the  two  Thoreau  had  the  more  thorough 
formal  education;  but  Burroughs  shows  keener  sus 
ceptibility  to  formative  influences  of  all  kinds. 
Thoreau  had  the  harder  mind,  the  nature  of  greater 
resisting  power;  Burroughs  is  more  sensitive  to  the 
atmosphere  of  his  time,  to  the  proximity  of  his  fel 
lows,  and  to  the  charms  of  art.  Thoreau  would  have 
devoted  more  time  to  a  woodchuck  than  to  Carlyle, 
Arnold,  or  Whitman  ;  Burroughs  emphasized  his  in 
debtedness  to  Wordsworth,  Arnold,  Emerson,  and 
Whitman.  He  has  the  more  open  mind,  the  quicker 
sympathies,  the  wider  range.  If  he  sometimes  strikes 
us  as  less  incisive  and  original  than  Thoreau,  he  is 
not  less  distinctly  American,  and  there  is  a  riper  and 
saner  quality  in  him.  In  Thoreau  one  is  constantly 
aware  of  the  element  of  wild  life  which  still  survives 
on  this  new  continent.  In  Burroughs  one  feels  the 
domesticity  of  nature;  one  is  aware  at  all  times  of 
the  simple,  natural  background  of  American  life." 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        481 

Class  Study.  —  Sharp  Eyes  ;  An  Idyl  of  the  Honey  Bee  ;  A 
Bunch  of  Herbs  ;  Winter  Neighbors ;  The  Apple  ;  A  Taste  of 
Maine  Birch. 

Class  Reading.  —  A  Sharp  Lookout ;  April ;  Pepacton :  a 
Summer  Voyage  ;  Winter  Pictures  ;  The  Pastoral  Bees  ;  Birds' 
Nesting  ;  The  Keturn  of  the  Birds. 


Associated  with  Burroughs  in  the  beneficent  work 
of  extending  the  new  friendship  for  nature,  and  re 
sembling  him  in  the  method  of  work,  are  several 
writers  whose  numerous  books  already  form  a  goodly 
library  of  natural  history.  Ernest  Ingersoll  clearly 
indicates  the  attitude  he  holds  toward  the  nature-folk 
about  him,  and  the  spirit  with  which  he  writes  of 
them,  by  the  titles  he  chooses  for  his  books,  as 
"  Wild  Neighbors,"  "  Country  Cousins,"  and  "  Friends 
Worth  Knowing."  With  a  style  of  con-  other  Essay- 
vincing  sincerity  Bradford  Torrey  writes  naturalists 
of  his  experiences  with  "  Birds  in  the  Bush,"  and  of 
the  beauty  and  wonder  that  most  people  never  see 
along  "  The  Footpath  Way,"  and  with  the  buoyant 
heartiness  of  the  season  reports  the  "  Spring  Notes 
from  Tennessee."  Every  one  who  once  catches  the 
woodsy  odors  of  Frank  Bolles's  books  profoundly 
regrets  that  the  author  could  not  have  lived  to  write 
many  more  essays  like  "  From  Blomidon  to  Smoky  " 
and  "  Land  of  the  Lingering  Snow."  One  of  the  most 
popular  writers  of  this  group  is  Olive  Thorne  Miller, 
who  describes  in  an  easy  and  familiar  way  her  adven 
tures  with  "  Queer  Pets  at  Marcy's,"  and  many  others. 
2i 


482  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

"  Little  Brothers  of  the  Air,"  "  Little  Folks  in  Feath 
ers  and  Fur,"  "  Bird  Ways,"  and  "  In  Nesting  Time," 
are  some  of  her  best  books.  A  charming  report  of  the 
tender  and  beautiful  aspects  of  nature  is  "  The  Friend 
ship  of  Nature,"  by  Mabel  Osgood  Wright,  whose 
other  books,  such  as  "  Birdcraft "  and  "  Four-footed 
Americans,"  are  rapidly  winning  over  hearts  to  her 
outdoor  friends.  A  farmer  essayist,  like  Burroughs, 
is  Charles  C.  Abbott,  whose  essays  are  persuasive 
inducements  to  join  him  in  the  enjoyment  of  "  Days 
Out-of -Doors,"  "  Outings  at  Odd  Times,"  "  Travels  in 
a  Tree-top,"  or  "The  Freedom  of  the  Fields."  A 
peculiar  interest  attaches  to  the  books  of  Rowland 
Robinson,  arising  from  the  fact  that  after  being 
stricken  with  blindness,  he  described  nature  with 
marvelous  minuteness  and  accuracy,  writing  out  of  the 
fullness  of  a  memory  sustained  by  love.  A  passage 
from  "  In  New  England  Fields  and  Woods  "  will  illus 
trate  the  sensitiveness  to  nature's  obscurest  activities 
that  characterizes  not  only  his  writing,  but  that  of 
all  the  essay-naturalists :  — 

When  the  returned  crows  have  become  such  familiar  objects 
in  the  forlorn,  unclad  landscape  of  early  spring  that  they  have 
worn  out  their  first  welcome,  and  the  earliest  songbirds  have 
come  to  stay,  in  spite  of  inhospitable  weather  that  seems  for 
days  to  set  the  calendar  back  a  month,  the  woods  invite  you 
more  than  the  fields.  There  nature  is  least  under  man's  re 
straint,  and  gives  the  first  signs  of  her  reawakening.  In  wind 
less  nooks  the  sun  shines  warmest  between  the  meshes  of  the 
slowly  drifting  net  of  shadows.  There  are  patches  of  moss  on 


x]  PRESENT  SCHOOLS  AND  TENDENCIES       483 

gray  rocks  and  tree-trunks.  Fairy  islands  of  it,  that  will  not 
be  greener  when  they  are  wet  with  summer  showers,  rise  among 
the  brown  expanse  of  dead  leaves.  The  gray  mist  of  branches 
and  undergrowth  is  enlivened  with  a  tinge  of  purple.  Here 
and  there  the  tawny  mat  beneath  is  uplifted  by  the  struggling 
plant  life  below  it,  or  pierced  through  by  an  underthrust  of  a 
sprouting  seed.  There  is  a  promise  of  bloom  in  blushing  ar 
butus  buds,  a  promise  even  now  fulfilled  by  the  first  squirrel- 
cups  just  out  of  their  furry  bracts  and  already  calling  the  bees 
abroad.  Flies  are  buzzing  to  and  fro  in  busy  idleness,  and  a 
cricket  stirs  the  leaves  with  a  sudden  spasm  of  movement.  The 
first  of  the  seventeen  butterflies  that  shall  give  boys  the  freedom 
of  bare  feet  goes  wavering  past  like  a  drifting  blossom. 

A  true  descendant  of  old  Isaac  Walton  has  appeared 
in  Henry  Van  Dyke,  for  old  Isaac  loved  the  beauty 
and  poetry  of  rippling  water  and  velvet-turfed  banks 
as  much  as  he  loved  the  shining  fish.  The  more 
obvious  literary  intention  of  "  Little  Rivers "  and 
"  Fisherman's  Luck "  places  them  somewhat  apart 
from  the  work  of  the  naturalists.  The  lift  that  comes 
to  flagging  spirits  from  such  books  as  these  Three  Special 
is  like  a  whiff  from  a  fresh  mountain  breeze,  Lovers  of 
that  on  its  way  to  the  valley  has  stolen  the 
odors  of  wild  grape  and  linden.  A  peculiarly  de 
lightful  combination  of  fancy  and  naturalistic  fact  has 
been  produced  by  Ernest  Seton-Thompson,  who  has 
suddenly  captivated  the  public  with  "  Wild  Animals  I 
have  Known,"  and  "  Lives  of  the  Hunted."  To  art  as 
well  as  to  science  and  literature  belong  the  charming 
books  of  William  Hamilton  Gibson,  "  Sharp  Eyes," 
"  Eye-spy,"  "  My  Studio  Neighbors,"  and  others,  illus- 


484  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

trated  with  loving  fidelty  by  the  author's  own  brush 
and  pencil.  Such  books  as  these  broaden  life  and  make 
it  sweeter  and  happier. 

A  class  of  very  useful  and  attractive  scientific  books 
for  unscientific  readers  is  represented  by  Mrs.  Dana's 
(Mrs.  F.  T.  Parsons)  "  How  to  Know  the  Wild  Flowers  " 
and  "How  to  Know  the  Ferns,"  Alice  Lounsberry's 
"  Guide  to  the  Trees,"  Neltje  Blanchan's  "  Bird  Neigh- 
Delightful  bors"  and  "Nature's  Garden,"  Frank  M. 
Guidebooks  Chapman's  "  Bird  Studies  with  a  Camera," 
W.  J.  Holland's  "Butterfly  Book,"  Samuel  H.  Scudder's 
"  Frail  Children  of  the  Air,"  and  A.  Kadclyffe  Dug- 
more's  "  Bird  Homes."  Such  books  as  these  lie  along 
the  borderlands  of  literature,  rendering,  however,  a 
very  definite  service  to  culture.  They  are  cleverly  de 
vised  enticements  to  draw  people  into  the  fields  and 
woods,  to  convert  the  listless  reader  of  summer  novels 
into  a  wide-awake  observer  of  nature.  They  serve  to 
convict  one  of  his  ignorance  of  the  common  things  in 
nature  about  him,  and  to  destroy  the  force  of  the  usual 
apology  for  such  ignorance.  They  furnish  easy  intro 
ductions  to  the  little  people  of  field,  forest,  and  sky, 
the  value  of  whose  ministrations  to  man  we  are  just 
beginning  to  comprehend. 

From  present  tones  and  tendencies  it  is  impossible 
to  deduce  any  consistent  theory  or  conclusion  respect 
ing  the  immediate  future  of  American  literature. 
There  is  a  widely  diffused  and  energetic  exercise  of 


x]  PRESENT   SCHOOLS   AND   TENDENCIES        485 

literary  talent,  but  its  force  is  largely  dissipated  in 
the  trivial  service  of  the  hour.  The  concentration  of 
purpose  that  constitutes  the  better  part  of  genius,  the 

serious  discipline  of  taste,  the  austere  devo- 

The  Present 

tion  to  high  ideals,  the  self-sacrificing  re-  and  the 
jection  of  the  advantages  of  temporary  u  ure 
success  in  the  hope  of  grasping  the  remoter  possibili 
ties  of  permanent  fame,  elements  that  always  go  to 
the  making  of  masterpieces,  are  conspicuously  want 
ing  in  our  present  literary  activities.  A  vigorous, 
vivid  contemporaneity  seems  mainly  to  characterize 
the  literary  products  of  the  period.  The  multitudi 
nous  energies  of  journalism  are  transforming  and  ab 
sorbing  the  energies  of  pure  literature ;  and  through 
the  agencies  of  the  ubiquitous  newspaper  and  the 
public  school  a  vast  reading  public  has  been  created, 
which  appears  to  be  dominated  by  the  tastes  and 
standards  represented  by  that  ideal  product  of  de 
mocracy,  the  "  average  man."  The  final  effect  upon 
literature  of  the  interaction  of  these  three  tremendous 
forces  —  free  schools,  journalism,  and  democracy  —  is 
matter  for  interesting  speculation.  But  the  question 
can  be  only  speciilative,  for  there  are  no  precedents  in 
the  history  of  the  world's  literature  by  which  the 
judgment  can  be  guided. 

For  a  number  of  years  we  seem  to  have  been  living 
in  the  twilight  of  that  glorious  day  when  the  New 
England  poets  were  in  full  voice,  and  Tennyson  in  old 
England  was  leading  the  Victorian  choir.  We  have 


486  AMERICAN   LITERATURE  [CHAP. 

been  eagerly  watching  for  signs  of  the  new  day.  But 
it  may  be  that  what  we  have  regarded  as  evidences  of 
a  transition  period  are  in  reality  the  beginnings  of  an 
era  of  democratic  diffusion  and  mediocrity.  The  old 
generation  of  poets  has  passed  away.  Of  the  second 
generation  only  Stoddard,  Stedman,  and  Aldrich  are 
left,  and  their  voices  are  regrettably  silent.  There  is 
little  creative  power  manifest  in  poetry,  and  no  signifi 
cant  products.  There  is  some  good  work  in  history, 
and  the  field  of  biography  is  not  altogether  neglected. 
The  revival  of  the  drama,  so  confidently  promised  by 
Stedman  many  years  ago,  is  still  a  forlorn  hope.  The 
only  great  literary  successes  are  in  fiction,  and  the 
character  of  these  successes  is  strongly  significant  of 
the  literary  conditions  of  the  period.  A  voracious 
public  appetite  for  intellectual  entertainment  is  an 
irresistible  incentive  to  the  mind  of  the  prolific  novel 
ist.  The  superior  intelligences,  baffled  in  their  pursuit 
of  high  aims,  yield  to  the  temptation  of  popular  de 
mand,  and  become  pupils  rather  than  instructors  of 
popular  tastes.  Nevertheless,  whether  we  regard  pre 
vailing  tendencies  as  transitional,  or  experimental,  or 
indicative  of  new  standards,  in  the  profusion  and 
alertness  and  high  average  merit  of  the  writing  of  the 
day  there  is  ground  for  hope  and  confidence.  There 
is  a  periodicity  in  the  production  of  the  finest  fruits 
of  art,  as  in  the  production  of  the  finest  fruits  of 
nature;  the  springs  of  national  genius  are  intermit 
tent,  and  may  be  trusted  to  fulfill  the  law  of  their 


x]  BIOGRAPHY   AND   CRITICISM  487 

being.  As  the  gateway  of  a  new  century  opens,  we 
may  reasonably  expect  to  catch  inspiring  glimpses  of 
the  delectable  mountains,  at  no  great  distance  away, 
with  crests  already  tinged  with  the  ruddy  hues  of  a 
new  morn. 


From  the  following  list  of  books  a  liberal  selection 
should  be  made  for  the  school  library,  to  supplement 
the  text  work  in  American  literature.  The  most  valu 
able,  that  is,  those  that  should  be  procured  first,  are 
marked  with  an  asterisk.  A  few  of  these  books  are 
out  of  print,  and  therefore  unprocurable;  but  these 
will  be  found  in  all  large  libraries,  and  therefore  have 
been  included  in  the  list  for  purposes  of  reference 
and  critical  comparison. 

*  Adams,  Oscar  Fay.     "  A  Dictionary  of  American  Authors." 

1897.     Hough  ton. 

Albee,  John.     "  Remembrances  of  Emerson."     1901.     Cooke. 

Alcott,  Amos  Bronson.  "  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson:  An  Esti 
mate  of  his  Character  and  Genius."  1882.  Williams. 

Alcott,  Amos  Bronson.  "  Concord  Days  "  [Emerson] .  1872. 
Little,  Brown. 

*  Allen,    A.    V.    G.     "Life    of    Jonathan    Edwards."     1889. 

Houghton. 

Appleton's  "Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography."  1898. 
Appleton. 

*  Arnold,  Matthew.     "Discourses    in   America"    [Emerson]. 

1885.     Macmillan. 

Austin,  George  L.  "  Life  and  Times  of  Wendell  Phillips." 
1884.  Lee  &  Shepard. 


488  AMERICAN   LITERATURE 

*  Baskervill,  William  M.     "Southern  Writers"  [Lanier,  Har 

ris,  Cable,  Page].     1890.    Barbee. 
Bates,  Katharine  Lee.     "American  Literature."     1898.     Mac- 

millan. 
Beers,  Henry  A.     "A  Century  of  American  Literature."   1878. 

Holt. 
Beers,  Henry  A.     "  Initial    Studies    in    American    Letters." 

1891.     Chautauqua  Press. 
Beers,  Henry  A.     "Nathaniel  Parker  Willis "  (American  Men 

of  Letters).     1885.     Hough  ton. 

*  Beers,    Henry  A.      "Prose  Writings    of    Nathaniel    Parker 

Willis."     1885.     Scribner. 

Benton,  Joel.     "  In  the  Poe  Circle."     1899.     Mansfield. 
*Bigelow,  John  (Ed.).     "Life  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  Written 

by  Himself."     1868.     Lippincott. 

*  Bigelow,  John.     "William  Cullen  Bryant"  (American  Men 

of  Letters).     1893.     Houghton. 

*Birrell,  Augustine.  "Obiter  Dicta."  Second  Series  [Emer 
son].  1887.  Scribner. 

Bolton,  Sarah  K.  "  Famous  American  Authors."   1887.  Crowell. 

Boynton,  Henry  W.  "Washington  Irving"  (Riverside  Bio 
graphical  Series).  1901.  Houghton. 

Bridge,  Horatio.  "Personal  Recollections  of  Nathaniel  Haw 
thorne."  1893.  Harper. 

Brooks,  Noah.  "  Abraham  Lincoln"  (Heroes  of  the  Nation). 
1897.  Putnam. 

Brown,  Emma  E.  "Life  of  James  Russell  Lowell."  1888. 
Lothrop. 

Brown,  Emma  E.  "Life  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes."  1884. 
Lothrop. 

Bryant,  William  Cullen.  "Orations  and  Addresses."  1873. 
Putnam. 

*  Burroughs,   John.     "Birds  and  Poets"    [Emerson].     1877. 

Houghton. 

*  Burroughs,  John.      "  Indoor  Studies"  [Thoreau,  Emerson]. 

1893.     Houghton. 

*  Burroughs,  John.    "  Whitman:  A  Study."    1896.   Houghton. 


BIOGRAPHY   AND   CRITICISM  489 

Burton,  Richard.  "  Literary  Likings"  [Irving],  1898.  Cope- 
land. 

Burton,  Richard.  "John  Greenleaf  Whittier"  (Beacon  Biog 
raphies).  1901.  Small. 

*  Cabot,  James  Elliot,     "Memoir  of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson." 

1887.     Houghton. 

*  Campbell,  Helen.     "  Anne  Bradstreet  and  her  Time."     1891. 

Lothrop. 

Carpenter,  George  R.     "  American  Prose."     1898.     Macmillan. 
Carpenter,    George    11.      "Henry    Wadsworth     Longfellow" 

(Beacon  Biographies).     1901.     Small. 
*Cary,    Edward.     "  George  William  Curtis"   (American  Men 

of  Letters).     1894.     Houghton. 

Chadwick,  John  W.    "  George  William  Curtis."    1893.    Harper. 
Chamberlain,  Mellen.      "John    Adams    and    Other    Essays" 

[Webster].     1898.     Houghton. 

*  Chamberlain,   N.   H.      "Samuel  Sewall  and  the  World  he 

lived  in."     1897.    De Wolfe. 

Channing,  William  Ellery.  "Thoreau,  the  Poet-Naturalist." 
1873.  Roberts. 

*  Chapman,  John  Jay.     "  Emerson  and  Other  Essays  "  [Whit 

man].     1898.     Scribner. 
Cheney,  Ednah  D.     "  Louisa  M.  Alcott :  Her  Life,  Letters,  and 

Journals."     1889.     Roberts. 
Cheney,    John    Vance.     "That    Dome    in    Air"    [Emerson, 

Lowell,  Whittier,  Longfellow,  Bryant,  Whitman].     1895. 

McClurg. 
Cheney,  John  Vance.     "The  Golden  Guess"  [Hawthorne]. 

1892.  Lee  &  Shepard. 

*  Chittenden,  Lucius  E.     "  Recollections  of  President  Lincoln, 

and  his  Administration."     1891.     Harper. 
*Claflin,    Mary  B.      "Personal    Recollections  of    Whittier." 

1893.  Crowell. 

*  Clarke,  William.     "Life  of  Walt  Whitman."     1892.     Mac 

millan. 

Clemens,  Samuel  L.  "  How  to  tell  a  Story  and  Other  Essays  " 
[Cooper].  1897.  Harper. 


490  AMERICAN   LITERATURE 

Clymer,  W.  B.  Shubrick.  "James  Fenimore  Cooper"  (Bea 
con  Biographies).  1901.  Small. 

*Conway,  Moncure  D.  "Emerson  at  Home  and  Abroad." 
1882.  Houghton. 

*Conway,  Moncure  D.  "Nathaniel  Hawthorne"  (Great  Wri 
ters).  1890.  Walter  Scott. 

*Cooke,  George  Willis.  "Ralph  Waldo  Emerson:  His  Life, 
Writings,  and  Philosophy."  1881.  Houghton. 

Crawford,  F.  Marion.  "The  Novel:  What  It  Is."  1893. 
Macmillan. 

Curtis,  George  Ticknor.  "Life  of  Daniel  Webster."  1869. 
Appleton. 

Curtis,  George  William.  "From  the  Easy  Chair."  First  and 
Third  Series  [Emerson,  Hawthorne].  1894.  Harper. 

*  Curtis,    George    William.      "Literary    and    Social    Essays" 

[Irving,  Emerson,  Hawthorne,  Longfellow,  Holmes].    1894. 
Harper. 

*  Curtis,  George  William.     "Orations   and  Addresses,"  Vol. 

Ill  [Bryant,  Lowell,  Phillips,  Sumner].     1894.     Harper. 

*  Curtis,    George  William  (Ed.).      "Correspondence  of  John 

Lothrop  Motley."     1889.     Harper. 

Dana,  Richard  H.     "Address  upon  the  Life  and  Public  Ser 
vices  of  Edward  Everett."     1865.     Cambridge. 
Deshler,  Charles  D.     "Afternoons  with  the  Poets"  [Bryant, 

Longfellow].     1879.     Harper. 
Donaldson,  T.     "Walt  Whitman,  the  Man."      1896.      F.  T. 

Harper. 
Dowden,  Edward.   "  Studies  in  Literature  "  [Whitman].  1889. 

Kegan  Paul. 
Duyckinck.     "  Cyclopaedia   of  American  Literature."      1875. 

Philadelphia. 
Emerson,  Edward  Waldo.      "Emerson  in  Concord."     1889. 

Houghton. 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo.      "Miscellanies"    [Lincoln].      1878. 

Houghton. 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo.     "Life  and  Letters  in  New  England" 

[Everett].     Houghton. 


BIOGRAPHY   AND   CRITICISM  491 

Encyclopaedia  Britannica.     1878-1889. 

*  Everett,  Edward.     "Orations  and  Speeches,"  Vols.  II,  III, 

IV    [Prescott,    Irving,    Lincoln,    Washington,    Franklin, 
Webster].     1872.     Little,  Brown. 
*Farnham,    Charles   Haight.       "Life   of   Francis   Parkman." 

1900.  Little,  Brown. 

Farrar,  Rev.  Frederick  W.     "Men  I  Have  Known"  [Holmes, 
Lowell,  Whittier].     1897.     Scribner. 

*  Fields,  James  T.     "  Yesterdays  with  Authors  "  [Hawthorne], 

1876.     Houghton. 

*  Fields,   Mrs.  James  T.     "Authors  and  Friends"  [Emerson, 

Holmes,  Longfellow,  Whittier].     189(5.     Houghton. 

*  Fields,    Mrs.   James   T.     "Nathaniel   Hawthorne"   (Beacon 

Biographies).     1899.     Small. 

*  Fields,  Mrs.  James  T.     "  Life  and  Letters  of  Harriet  Beecher 

Stowe."     1897.     Houghton. 
Fields,  Mrs.  James  T.     "  Whittier :    Notes  of   His  Life   and 

Friendships."     1893.     Harper. 
Fiske,   John.      "A   Century   of   Science   and   Other  Essays" 

[Parkman].     1899.     Houghton. 
Fiske,   John.      "The   Unseen   World"    [Longfellow].      1876. 

Houghton. 
Flower,  B.  O.     "Whittier:  Prophet,  Seer,  and  Man."     1896. 

Arena. 
*Ford,  Paul  Leicester.     "The  Many-sided  Franklin."     1899. 

Century. 
Forster,  Joseph.     "Four  Great  Teachers"  [Emerson].     1890. 

Walter  Scott. 
Friswell,   J.    Hain.     "Modern  Men  of   Letters"    [Emerson, 

Longfellow].     1870.     London. 
* Frothingham,  0.  B.     "Transcendentalism  in  New  England" 

[Emerson,  Alcott].     1876.     Putnam. 
Fruit,  John  Phelps.     "The  Mind  and  Art  of  Poe's  Poetry." 

1899.    Barnes. 

*  Garnett,  Richard.   "  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  "  (Great  Writers). 

1888.     Walter  Scott. 
Garnett,  Richard.     "Essays  of  an  Ex-Librarian"  [Emerson]. 

1901.  Dodd. 


492  AMERICAN   LITERATURE 

Gates,  Lewis  E.  "Studies  and  Appreciations"  [Hawthorne, 
Poe].  1900.  Macmillan. 

Gay,  Sydney  Howard.  "James  Madison"  (American  States 
men).  1884.  Hough  ton. 

*  Gilder,  J.  L.  and  J.  B.  (Eds.).    "  Authors  at  Home  "  [Sketches 

of  Twenty-five  American  Authors].     1889.     Cassell. 
Gilfillan,   George.      "Gallery  of  Portraits"  [Emerson,  Poe]. 

1855.     Sheldon. 
Gill,  William  F.     "  Life  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe."     1877.     Dilling- 

ham. 
Gilman,  Arthur.     "Poets'  Homes."     1879.     Lothrop. 

*  God  win,  Parke.     "Life  of   William  Cullen  Bryant."     1883. 

Appleton. 

Godwin,  Parke.  "Out  of  the  Past"  [Bryant,  Motley,  Emer 
son].  1870.  Putnam. 

Godwin,  Parke.  "  Commemorative  Addresses  "  [Bryant,  Cur 
tis].  1895.  Harper. 

Gosse,  Edmund  W.  "  Critical  Kit-Kats"  [Whitman].  1896. 
Dodd. 

Gosse,  Edmund  W.  "  Questions  at  Issue  "  [Poe].  1893.  Ap 
pleton. 

*Grimke',  A.  H.  "Charles  Sumner,  the  Scholar  in  Politics" 
(American  Reformers).  1892.  Funk. 

Grimm,  Herman.     "Literature"  [Emerson],    1886.    Cupples. 

Griswold,  H.  T.  "Personal  Sketches  of  Recent  Authors" 
[Howells,  Stowe,  Taylor,  Thoreau,  Alcott].  1898.  Mc- 
Clurg. 

Griswold,  Rufus  W.  "  Poets  and  Poetry  of  America."  1842. 
Philadelphia. 

Griswold,  Rufus  W.  "Prose  Writers  of  America."  1847. 
Philadelphia. 

Griswold,  Rufus  W.  "Female  Poets  of  America."  1849. 
Philadelphia. 

Griswold,  Rufus  W.  "Biographical  Sketch  of  Poe."  1850. 
Philadelphia. 

Guernsey,  Alfred  H.  "Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  Philosopher 
and  Poet."  1881.  Appleton. 


BIOGRAPHY   AND   CRITICISM  403 

*  Hale,  Edward  Everett.     "  Franklin  in  France."    1887.   Little, 

Brown. 
*Hale,  Edward  Everett.     "Lowell   and   his   Friends."     1899, 

Houghton. 
Hale,  Edward  Everett,  Jr.     "James  Russell  Lowell"  (Beacon 

Biographies).     1899.     Small. 
Halsey,    Francis    Whiting.     "American    Authors    and    their 

Homes"   [Stoddard,   Stockton,    Burroughs,    Aldrich,   and 

Others].     1901.     James  Pott. 
*Hapgood,  Norman.     "Abraham  Lincoln:   The  Man  of  the 

People."     1900.     Macmillan. 
Hapgood,  Norman.     "  Daniel  Webster  "  (Beacon  Biographies). 

1899.     Small. 

Harrison,  Frederic.     "  George  Washington  and  Oilier  Ameri 
can  Addresses."     1901.     Macmillan. 
Harvard  Graduates'  Magazine.     "Autobiography  of  Francis 

Parkman."     June,  1895. 

Haweis,  II.  R.     "  American  Humorists."     1883.     Funk. 
Haweis,    II.  R.     "Poets  in  the  Pulpit"  [Longfellow].     1880. 

Sampson  Low. 
Hawthorne,  Julian.     "  Confessions  and  Criticisms  "  [Emerson]. 

1887.     Houghton. 

*  Hawthorne,  Julian.     "Nathaniel  Hawthorne  and  His  Wife." 

1885.     Houghton. 

Hayne,  Paul  H.  "Memoir  of  Henry  Tirarod."  Timrod's 
Poems.  1873.  Hale. 

Hazletine,  Mayo  W.  "Chats  about  Books,  Poets,  and  Novel 
ists"  [Longfellow,  Whittier,  Hawthorne,  Harte,  James]. 
1883.  Scribner. 

Hazlitt,  William.    "  Spirit  of  the  Age  "  [Irving].   1825.  London. 

*Herndon,  William  H.  "Abraham  Lincoln:  True  Story  of  a 
Great  Life."  1892.  Appleton. 

*  Higginson,  Thomas  Wentworth.     "Contemporaries"  [Emer 

son,  Whittier,  Lanier,  Sumner,  Phillips,  Whitman].     1899= 
Houghton. 

*  Higginson,     Thomas     Wentworth.       "Francis    Higginson.' 

(Makers  of  America).     1801.     Dodd. 


494  AMERICAN   LITERATURE 

*Higginson,  Thomas  Wentworth.  "Margaret  Fuller  Ossoli" 
(American  Men  of  Letters).  1884.  Houghton. 

*Higginson,  Thomas  Wentworth.  "Old  Cambridge"  [Long 
fellow,  Lowell,  Holmes].  1899.  Macmillan. 

*Higginson,  Thomas  Wentworth.  "Short  Studies  of  Ameri 
can  Authors"  [Hawthorne,  Poe,  Thoreau,  Ho  wells,  James]. 
1880.  Lee  &  Shepard. 

Hill,  David  J.  "Life  of  William  Cullen  Bryant."  1879. 
Sheldon. 

Hill,  David  J.     "  Life  of  Washington  Irving."     1879.    Sheldon. 

Holmes,  Edmond.  "  Walt  Whitman's  Poetry:  A  Study  and  a 
Selection."  1901.  Lane. 

*  Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell.    "  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson"  (Ameri 

can  Men  of  Letters).     1885.     Houghton. 

*  Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell.     "  John  Lothrop  Motley  :  A  Biogra 

phy."     1879.     Houghton. 
Holmes,   Oliver  Wendell.     "Pages  from   an  Old  Volume  of 

Life"  [Edwards].     1883.     Houghton. 
"  Homes  of  American  Authors."     1857.     Appleton. 
Howe,    Julia    Ward.       "Reminiscences"    [Phillips].       1899. 

Houghton. 
Howe,  Julia  Ward.      "Margaret  Fuller"  (Famous  Women). 

1883.     Little,  Brown. 

*Howe,  M.  A.  DeWolf.  "  American  Bookmen."  1898.  Dodd. 
Howells,  William  D.  "  Criticism  and  Fiction."  1891.  Harper. 
Ho  wells,  William  D.  "  My  Literary  Passions  "  [Irving,  Curtis], 

1895.     Harper. 

*  Howells,  William  D.     "  Literary  Friends  and  Acquaintance  " 

[Longfellow,  Lowell,  Holmes].     1900.     Harper. 

Howells,  William  D.  "Heroines  of  Fiction,"  Vol.1  [Haw 
thorne].  1901.  Harper. 

Hubbard,  Elbert.  "Little  Journeys  to  the  Homes  of  Ameri 
can  Authors."  1896.  Putnam. 

*Hunt,  Theodore  W.  "Studies  in  Literature  and  Style" 
[Emerson],  1890.  Armstrong. 

*Hutton,  Richard  Holt.  "Literary  Essays"  [Hawthorne]. 
1888.  Macmillan. 


BIOGRAPHY   AND   CRITICISM  495 

Ireland,  Alexander.   "  In  Memoriam  :  Emerson."  1882.  London. 
"  Irvingiana."     1860.     Richardson. 

*  Irving,  Pierre  M.     "  Life  and  Letters  of  Washington  Irving." 

1862.     Putnam. 

*  James,    Henry.       "Essays    in    London"    [Lowell].       1893. 

Harper. 

*, Tames,    Henry.     "Nathaniel  Hawthorne"    (English  Men  of 
Letters).     1880.     Harper. 

*  James,    Henry.       "Partial    Portraits"     [Emerson].       1888. 

Macmillan. 

Jeffrey,    Francis.       "  Modern    British    Essayists,"     Vol.    VI 
'  [Irving].     1822. 

*  Johnson,  Charles  F.     "Three  Englishmen  and  Three  Ameri 

cans"  [Longfellow,  Hawthorne,  Emerson].    1886.    Whitta- 
ker. 

Jerrold,  Walter.     "Oliver  Wendell  Holmes"    (Dilettante  Li 
brary).     1893.     Macmillan. 

*  Kennedy,  W.  Sloane.     "John  Greenleaf  Whittier,  the  Poet  of 

Freedom  "  (American  Reformers).     1892.     Funk. 
Kennedy,  W.  Sloane.     "John  Greenleaf  Whittier:  His  Life, 
Genius,  and  Writings."     1882.     Cassino. 

*  Kennedy,    W.    Sloane.       "Henry    Wadsworth  Longfellow." 

1884.     Lothrop. 

*  Kennedy,    W.    Sloane.       "Oliver    Wendell    Holmes:    Poet, 

Litterateur,  Scientist."     1883.     Cassino. 
Kennedy,   W.   Sloane.      "Reminiscences  of  Walt  Whitman." 

1896.  London. 

*Lang,    Andrew.       "Letters    on   Literature"    [Longfellow]. 

1892.     London. 
*Lang,  Andrew.     "Letters  to  Dead  Authors"  [Poe].     1893. 

Scribner. 
Lanier,    Sidney.       "Music    and    Poetry"     [Hayne].      1898. 

Scribner. 
*Lathrop,  George  Parsons.     "A  Study  of  Hawthorne."     1876. 

Houghton. 
*Lathrop,    Rose    Hawthorne.      "Memories    of    Hawthorne." 

1897.  Houghton. 


496  AMERICAN   LITERATURE 

Lawton,    William    Cranston.       "The    New    England    Poets." 

1898.     Macmillan. 
*Link,   Samuel  Albert.      "Pioneers  of  Southern  Literature." 

1898.     Barbee. 
Linton,  W.  J.     "John  Greenleaf  Whittier"  (Great  Writers). 

1893.     Walter  Scott. 
Lodge,  Henry  Cabot.     "Certain  Accepted  Heroes  and  Other 

Essays"  [Holmes].     1897.     Harper. 
*Lodge,    Henry   Cabot.      "Alexander   Hamilton"    (American 

Statesmen).     1882.     Houghton. 

*  Lodge,    Henry   Cabot.      "George    Washington"    (American 

Statesmen).     1889.     Houghton. 

*Lodge,  Henry  Cabot.  "Studies  in  History"  [Webster]. 
1884.  Houghton. 

*  Longfellow,  Samuel.     "Life  of  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfel 

low."     1886.     Houghton. 

*  Longfellow,  Samuel.     "Final  Memorials  of  Henry  Wadsworth 

Longfellow."     1887.  Houghton. 

*Lounsbury,  Thomas  R.  "James  Fenimore  Cooper"  (Ameri 
can  Men  of  Letters).  1883.  Houghton. 

*  Lowell,  James  Russell.  "Literary  Essays."     Prose  Works, 

Vol.  I  [Emerson,  Thoreau].     1871.     Houghton. 

*  Lowell,  James  Russell.     "Political  Essays."     Prose  Works, 

Vol.  V  [Lincoln].     1871.     Houghton. 

*McMaster,  John  Bach.  "Benjamin  Franklin  as  a  Man  of 
Letters  "  (American  Men  of  Letters).  1888.  Houghton. 

*  Martyn,  Carlos.     "  Wendell  Phillips  "  (American  Reformers). 

1890.     Funk. 

Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  "Tributes  to  Longfellow 
and  Emerson."  1883.  Williams. 

*  Matthews,      Brander.       "Americanisms      and      Briticisms" 

[Cooper,  Curtis,  Higginson].     1892.     Harper. 

Matthews,  Brander.  "Aspects  of  Fiction"  [American  Litera 
ture].  1896.  Harper. 

Matthews,  Brander.     "Pen  and  Ink"  [Poe].    1894.    Longmans. 

Mitchell,  Donald  G.  "American  Lands  and  Letters."  1899. 
Scribner. 


BIOGRAPHY   AND   CRITICISM  497 

Mitchell,  Donald  G.  "Bound  Together"  [Irving].  1888. 
Scribner. 

Mitford,  Mary  Russell.  "Recollections  of  a  Literary  Life" 
[Longfellow,  Whittier].  1859.  London. 

*Morley,  John.  "Ralph  Waldo  Emerson :  An  Essay."  1884. 
Macmillan. 

More,  Paul  Elmer.  "Benjamin  Franklin"  (Riverside  Bio 
graphical  Series).  1901.  Iloughton. 

*  Morse,  John   T.     "Benjamin   Franklin"   (American  States 

men).     1889.     Hough  ton. 

*  Morse,  John  T.     "  Abraham  Lincoln  "  (American  Statesmen). 

1893.     Iloughton. 

*  Morse,  John  T.     "  Life  and  Letters  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes." 

1897.     Iloughton. 
Morse,  John  T.     "  Thomas  Jefferson  "  (American  Statesmen), 

1897.     Iloughton. 
Neilson,    Joseph.       "Memories    of     Rufus    Choate."       1884. 

Iloughton. 

Nichol,  John.     "American  Literature."     1882.     Edinburgh. 
Nicolay,  J.  G.,  and  Hay,  J.     "Abraham  Lincoln:  A  History." 

1890.     Century. 
Noble,  Charles.      "Studies  in  American  Literature."      1898. 

Macmillan. 

*  Norton,    Charles   Eliot   (Ed.).     "Letters   of   James   Russell 

Lowell."     1894.     Harper. 

*  Norton,  Charles  Eliot  (Ed.).     "Correspondence  of  Carlyle 

and  Emerson."     1885.     Iloughton. 
Onderdonk,  James  L.     "  History  of  American  Verse."     1901. 

McClurg. 
Page  [Japp],  H.  A.     "  Memoir   of    Nathaniel  Hawthorne." 

1872.     London. 

*Page,  H.  A.     "Thoreau,  His  Life  and  Aims."     1877.     Osgood. 
*Parton,    James.       "Famous   Americans  of   Recent   Times" 

[Webster].     1867.     Houghton. 
*Parton,  James.     "Life  and  Times  of  Benjamin  Franklin." 

1864.     Houghton. 
Parton,  James.     "Life  of  Horace  Greeley."     1855.     Houghton. 

2H. 


498  AMERICAN   LITERATURE 

Parton,  James.     "Noted  Princes,  Authors,  and  Statesmen  of 

Our  Time"   [Longfellow,    Emerson,   Whittier,  Prescott]. 

1885.     Crowell. 
Peck,  Harry  Thurston.     "The  Personal  Equation"  [Howells]. 

1898.     Harper. 
Phelps-Ward,    Elizabeth    Stuart.      "Chapters  From  a  Life" 

[Holmes,  Longfellow,  Whittier,  Stowe].     1896.    Houghton. 
*Pickard,  Samuel  T.     "Life  and  Letters  of  John  Greenleaf 

Whittier."     1894.     Houghton. 

*  Pierce,  Edward  L.    "  Memoirs  and  Letters  of  Charles  Sumner." 

1893.     Little,  Brown. 
Poe,  Edgar  Allan.     "The  Literati"  [Critical  Notices  of  Poe's 

Contemporaries].     1850. 
Prescott,  William  H.     "  Biographical  and  Critical  Miscellanies  " 

[Brown].     1852.     Lippincott. 
Rhys,  Ernest.    Introduction  to  "Poems  of  Walt  Whitman" 

(Canterbury  Poets).     Walter  Scott. 

*  Richardson,     Charles  F.       "American    Literature."       1889. 

Putnam. 
Robertson,  Eric  S.     "  Henry  W.  Longfellow  "  (Great  Writers). 

1887.     Walter  Scott. 
Robertson,  John  M.     "  Modern  Humanists  "  [Emerson].     1891. 

London. 

*  Robertson,  John  M.     "  New  Essays  toward  a  Critical  Method  " 

[Poe].     1897.     Lane. 

Robins,  Edward.  "  Life  of  Benjamin  Franklin."  1898.  Putnam. 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  and  Lodge,  H.  C.  "Hero  Tales  from 
American  History "  [Parkman].  1895.  Century. 

Rossetti,  William  M.  "  Lives  of  Famous  Poets  "  [Longfellow]. 
1878.  London. 

Sainte-Beuve,  Charles  Augustin.  "  English  Portraits  "  [Frank 
lin].  1875.  Holt. 

Salt,  H.  S.     "  Life  of  Henry  David  Thoreau."     1890.     London. 

*  Sanborn,   Frank   B.     "Henry  David   Thoreau"    (American 

Men  of  Letters).     1882.     Houghton. 

*  Sanborn,  Frank  B.     "The  Genius  and  Character  of  Emer 

son."     1885.     Houghton. 


BIOGRAPHY  AND   CRITICISM  499 

Santayana,  George.  "  Poetry  and  Religion  "  [Emerson].  1900. 
Scribner. 

Saunders,  Frederick.  "Character  Studies"  [Irving,  Long 
fellow,  Bryant].  1894.  Whittaker. 

*  Schurz,    Carl.      "Abraham     Lincoln:     an    Essay."      1891. 

Iloughton. 

*  Scudder,  Horace  E.     "Men  and  Letters"  [Emerson,  Long 

fellow].     1887.     Iloughton. 

*  Scudder,  Horace  E.     "James  Russell  Lowell:  a  Biography." 

1901.     Iloughton. 

Shepard  [Walsh]  William.  "  Pen  Pictures  of  Earlier  Victorian 
Authors"  [Irving,  Poe].  1884.  Putnam. 

*  Shepard,    William.      "Pen   Pictures    of    Modern   Authors" 

[Longfellow,  Lowell,  Holmes,  Whittier,  Emerson,  Haw 
thorne].  1886.  Putnam. 

Smalley.  George  W.  "Studies  of  Men"  [Holmes].  1895.  Harper. 

Smith,  George  Barnett.  "Poets  and  Novelists"  [Hawthorne]. 
1876.  Appleton. 

*  Smyth,    Albert   H.     "Bayard   Taylor"    (American   Men  of 

Letters).     1896.     Iloughton. 
Sparks,    Edwin   Erie.     "The   Men   Who   Made   the  Nation" 

[Franklin,  Webster,  Lincoln].     1900.     Macmillan. 
Sparks,  Jared.     "American   Biographies."     Vol.    I    [Brown]. 

1853.     Harper. 
Stearns,  Frank  Preston.     "  Sketches  from  Concord  and  Apple- 

dore."     1895.     Putnam. 
*Stedman,  Edmund   Clarence.     "An   American  Anthology." 

1900.     Hough  ton. 
*Stedman,  Edmund  Clarence.     "Poets   of  America."     1885. 

Iloughton. 

*  Stedman  and  Hutchinson  (Eds.).     "  Library  of  American  Lit 

erature."     11  vols.     1888-1890. 

Stedman  and  Woodberry.  •'  Works  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  newly 
collected  and  edited,  with  a  Memoir,  Critical  Introductions, 
and  Notes."  1894.  Stone. 

*  Stephen,  Leslie.    "Hours  in  a  Library."    First  Series  [Haw 

thorne].    1875.    Second  Series  [Edwards].    1881.    Putnam. 


500  AMERICAN   LITERATURE 

*  Stephen,     Leslie.     "Studies    of    a    Biographer."      Vol.    II 

[Holmes].     1898.    Putnam. 

*  Stevenson,    Robert  Louis.     "Familiar  Studies  of  Men  and 

Books"  [Thoreau,  Whitman].     1887.     Dodd. 
Stoddard,  Richard  Henry  (Ed.).     "American  Poets  and  their 
Homes."     1877.     Lothrop. 

*  Storey,    Moorfield.     "Charles  Sumner"    (American   States 

men).     1900.     Houghton. 

*  Symington,  A.  J.  "Life  of  William  Cullen  Bryant."      1880. 

Harper. 

*  Symonds,  J.  Addington.     "  Walt  Whitman,  a  Study."    1896. 

London. 

*  Taylor,   Bayard.      "Critical    Essays    and    Literary   Notes" 

[Notices  of  eighteen  American  authors].     1880.     Putnam. 

*  Taylor,  Marie  Hansen,  and  Scudder,  H.  E.     "Life  and  Let 

ters  of  Bayard  Taylor."     1884.     Houghton. 

*  Thackeray,  William  Makepeace.    "  Roundabout  Papers  "  (Nil 

Nisi  Bonum)  [Irving].     1863. 
*Ticknor,    George.     "Life  of    William    Hickling    Prescott." 

1864.     Osgood. 
Todd,  C.  B.   "  Life  and  Letters  of  Joel  Barlow."    1886.  Putnam. 

*  Trent,  William  P.     "William   Gilmore   Simms"  (American 

Men  of  Letters).     1896.     Houghton. 

*  Trent,   William   P.,    and   Wells,  B.   W.   (Eds.).     "Colonial 

Prose  and  Poetry."     1901.     Crowell. 

Tuckerman,  Henry  T.  "Essays  Biographical  and  Critical" 
[Franklin,  Brown].  1857.  Phillips,  Sampson. 

*Twichell,  Joseph  H.  "John  Winthrop  "  (Makers  of  Amer 
ica).  1891.  Dodd. 

*  Tyler,  Moses  Coit.     "  A  History  of  American  Literature  dur 

ing  the  Colonial  Time."     1878.    Putnam. 

*  Tyler,  Moses  Coit.     "The  Literary  History  of  the  American 

Revolution."     1897.    Putnam. 

*  Tyler,  Moses  Coit.     "Three  Men  of  Letters"  [Dwight,  Bar 

low].     1895.     Putnam. 

*  Tyler,  Moses  Coit.    "  Patrick  Henry  "  (American  Statesmen). 

1897.     Houghton. 


BIOGRAPHY   AND   CRITICISM  501 

Underwood,  Francis  II.     "Builders  of  American  Literature." 
18!)3.     Lee  &  Shepard. 

*  Underwood,  Francis  II.     "Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow:  a 

Biographical  Sketch."     1882.     Houghton. 

*  Underwood,    Francis   H.      "James   Russell  Lowell :    a   Bio 

graphical  Sketch."     1881.     Houghton. 

*  Underwood,  Francis  II.     "  John  Greenleaf  Whittier  :  a  Biog 

raphy."     1883.     Houghton. 

*  Under  wood,  Francis  II.     "  The  Poet  and  the  Man  :  Recollec 

tions  and  Appreciations  of  James  Russell  Lowell."     1893. 
Lee  &  Shepard. 

*Vedder,   Henry  C.     "American  Writers  of  To-Day ."     1895. 
Silver. 

*  Warner,  Charles  Dudley.     "Life  of  Captain  John  Smith." 

1881.     Putnam. 

*  Warner,  Charles  Dudley.     "Washington  Irving"  (American 

Men  of  Letters).     1882.     Houghton. 

*  Warner,  Charles  Dudley.     "The  Work  of  Washington  Irv 

ing."     1893.     Harper. 
Warner,  Charles  Dudley  (Ed.).     "  Library  of  the  World's  Best 

Literature."     30  vols.     1896. 
Warner,   Bryant,    and  Putnam.     "Studies  of  Irving."     1880. 

Putnam. 
Watson,    William.       "Excursions     in     Criticism"    [Lowell]. 

1893.     Macmillan. 
Webster,  Fletcher  (Ed).     "  Private  Correspondence  of  Daniel 

Webster."     1857.     Little,  Brown. 
Welsh,  Alfred  II.     "  Development  of   English  Literature  and 

Language."     1882.     Griggs. 

*  Wendell,  Barrett.     "Cotton  Mather"  (Makers  of  America). 

1891.     Dodd. 

*  Wendell,  Barrett.     "  Stelligeri,  and  Other  Essays  concerning 

America"  [Lowell,  Whittier].     1893.     Scribner. 

*  Wendell,  Barrett.    "  A  Literary  History  of  America."     1901. 

Scribner. 

Whipple,    Edwin   P.     "Character   and    Characteristic    Men" 
[Hawthorne,  Everett].     I860.     Houghton. 


502  AMERICAN   LITERATURE 

Whipple,  Edwin  P.  "Essays  and  Reviews"  [Longfellow, 
Holmes,  Whittier,  Prescott].  1850.  Houghton. 

*  Whipple,  Edwin  P.    "  Literature  and  Life  "  [Bryant].    1849. 

Houghton. 

*  Whipple,  Edwin  P.     "Recollections  of  Eminent  Men"  [Em 

erson,  Motley,  Sumner].     1878.     Houghton. 

*  Whipple,  Edwin  P.     "American  Literature,  and  Other  Pa 

pers."     1887.     Houghton. 

*  Whipple,  Edwin  P.     "Outlooks  on  Society,  Literature,  and 

Politics"  [Lowell].     1888.     Houghton. 

*  Whitcomb,  Selden  L.     "Chronological  Outlines  of  American 

Literature."     1894.     Macmillan. 

Whittier,  John  Greenleaf.  "Literary  Recreations"  [Long 
fellow,  Holmes].  1854.  Houghton. 

Wilkinson,  William  'Cleaver.  "A  Free  Lance  in  the  Field  of 
Life  and  Letters  "  [Bryant.  Lowell].  1874.  Mason. 

Willis,  N.  P.  "Hurry-graphs"  [Irving,  Poe,  Emerson].  1853. 
Scribner. 

*  Wilson,   James  Grant.     "Bryant  and  his  Friends."     1886. 

Fords. 

*  Wilson,   James   Grant.     "Life  and  Letters  of  Fitz-Greene 

Halleck."     1869.     Appleton. 

*  Winter,   William.      "George  William   Curtis:    a    Eulogy." 

1893.    Macmillan. 

*  Winter,   William.     "English   Rambles,  and  Other  Fugitive 

Pieces"  [Longfellow].     1883.    Osgood. 

*  Winter,    William.     "Old    Shrines    and    Ivy"    [Longfellow, 

Cooper].     1892.     Macmillan. 

*  Wolfe,  Theodore  F.     "  Literary  Shrines :  the  Haunts  of  Some 

Famous  American  Authors."     1897.     Lippincott. 
*Woodberry,    George  E.     "Makers  of  Literature"  [Lowell, 
Whittier].     1900.     Macmillan. 

*  Woodberry,  George  E.     "  Edgar  Allan  Poe  "  (American  Men 

of  Letters).     1888.     Houghton. 

*  Woodbury,  Charles  J.    "Talks  with  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson." 

1890.     Baker. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Charles  Conrad,  482. 

Abolition,  '208,  211. 

Adams,  Hannah,  350. 

Adams,  Henry,  'All. 

Adams,  John,  63,  72,  79,  84,  85. 

Adams,  Samuel,  63,  64,  7(1. 

Addison's  "  Spectator,"  69,  76, 
95,  113,  120,  412. 

Alcott,  Amos  Bronson,  161,  204. 

Alcott,  Louisa  May,  205. 

Aldrich,  Thomas  Bailey,  383, 398- 
404. 

Allen,  James  Lane,  339,  345. 

Allston,  Washington,  113,  144. 

"  Almanac,  Poor  Richard's,"  73. 

Alsop,  Richard,  95. 

Americanism,  Birth  of, 60;  ideal, 
82. 

Ames,  Fisher,  85. 

"  Annuals,"  The  age  of,  156. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  177,  286,  411, 
479. 

Art,  Beginnings  of,  98. 

"Atlantic  Monthly,  The,"  255, 
293. 

Austen,  Jane,  441. 

"Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Ta 
ble,"  293. 

Bacon,  15. 

Ballads,  87. 

Bancroft,  George,  349,  354-357, 

364. 

Barlow,  Joel,  90-92. 
"Bay  Psalm  Book,  The,"  49. 


Beecher,   Henry  Ward,  230-231, 

248. 

Beecher,  Lyman,  168. 
Beers,  Henry  A.,  quoted,  119,  157, 

250,  271,  393. 
Belkuap,  Jeremy,  350. 
Ueverley,  Robert,  23. 
Bigelow,  John,  77. 
"Biglovv  Papers,"  277. 
Bird,  Robert  Montgomery,  126. 
Blair,  James,  22. 
Blanchan,  Nelje,  484. 
"  Blithedale     Romance,     The," 

200. 

Boker,  George  Henry,  409. 
Bolles,  Frank,  481. 
Boyesen,   Hjalmar   Hjb'rth,  425, 

457. 

Brackenridge,  Hugh  Henry,  96. 
Bradford,  William,  27-29,  349. 
Bradstreet,  Anne,  50-53,  140,289. 
Brook  Farm,  161,  165,  193,  201. 
Brooks,  Maria,  144. 
Brown,    Charles    Brockden,  99- 

103. 
Browne,  Charles  Farrar  ("  Arte- 

mus  Ward  "),  466,  468. 
Brownell,  Henry  Howard,  409. 
Bryant,  William  Cullen,  94,  97, 

110,  127-137,  141,  150,  266,  383. 
Bryce,  James,  quoted,  210,  226. 
Bunner,  Henry  Cuyler,  410. 
Burke,  Edmund,  59,  63,  66,  85, 

221. 
Burnett,  Frances  Hodgson,  457. 


503 


INDEX 


Burns,  94,  473. 

Burroughs,  John,  182,   294,  474, 

476-481. 

Burton,  Richard,  quoted,  337. 
Burwell  Papers,  The,  '2'2. 
Butler's  "  Hudibras,"  89,  90. 
Bynner,  Edwin  Lassetter,  457. 
Byrd,  William,  23. 
Byron,  Lord,  115,  120. 

Cahle,  George  Washington,  339- 

341. 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  208,  211. 
Calvinism,  34,  163,  Ki4,  167,  168. 
Campbell,  Thomas,  95,  115,  122. 
Carleton,  Will,  463. 
Carlyle,  160,  161,  162,  170,  172, 

177,  217,  348. 
Carman,  Bliss,  475. 
Gary,  Alice,  and  Phoebe,  409. 
Catherwood,     Mary      Hartwell, 

457,  464. 

Cavaliers,  The,  in  Virginia,  17. 
Channing,   William  Ellery,  140, 

160,  163-165,  254. 
Channing,  AVilliam  Ellery  (poet) , 

206. 

Chapman,  Frank  M.,  484. 
Chaucer,  9,  77. 

Choate,  Rufus,  211,  221,  224-2'_>5. 
Churchill,  Winston,  457. 
Cicero,  and  Webster,  220. 
Civil  War,  The,  19,  208,  304,  322. 
Clarke,  James  Freeman,  161, 164, 

166. 

Clay,  Henry,  209,  211. 
Clemens,      Samuel      Langhorne 

("  Mark  Twain  "),  469-472. 
Coleridge,  160,  316. 
"  Columbiad,"  Barlow's,  91. 
"  Concord  School,  The,"  160. 
"  Conquest  of  Canaan,"  92. 
Constitution,  The,  80,  83,  208. 
Cooke,  John  Esten,  307. 
Cooke,  Philip  Pendleton,  306. 


Cooke,  Rose  Terry,  455. 
Cooper,     James    Fenimore,    99, 

109,  110.  144-155,  157. 
Cotton,  John,  34,  47. 
"  Craddock,     Charles     Egbert " 

(Miss  Murfree),  343. 
Cranch,  Christopher  Pearse,  206. 
Crawford,  Francis  Marion,  448- 

450. 
Curtis,     George     William,     161, 

383,  413^19;   quoted,  77,  135, 

173,  177,  193,  196,  198,  226,  271. 

Dana,  Richard  Henry,  52,  139, 
412. 

Dana,  Mrs.  William  Star,  484. 

"  Day  of  Doom,  The  "  (Wiggles- 
worth),  53. 

"Declaration  of  Independence, 
The,"  81,  86. 

DeFoe,  77,  451,452. 

Deland,  Margaret,  455. 

Democracy,  432,  458. 

Dewey,  Orville,  167. 

"Dial,  The,"  162,204. 

Dickinson,  Emily,  206. 

Dobson,  Austin,  318,  410. 

Dorr,  Julia  C.  R.,  454. 

Dowden,  Edward,  quoted,  434. 

Drake,  Joseph  Rodman,  138,  141. 

Drama,  Beginnings  of,  98. 

Dray  ton,  Michael,  16. 

Dugmore,  A.  Radclyffe,  484. 

Duulap,  William,  99. 

Dwight,  Timothy,  88,  90,  92,  95, 


Edwards,  Jonathan,  42-46,  164. 
Eggleston,  Edward,  377,  461. 
Eliot,  George,  and  Emerson,  174. 
Eliot,  John,  36,  49. 
"  Elsie  Venner,"  294,  300. 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo.   12,  13, 

94,   109,  160,  162,  168-184,  185, 

188,  264,  412,  414. 


INDEX 


505 


English  literature,  Contempo 
rary,  14,  55,  98,  110,  256. 

Essays,  Political,  62. 

"  Evangeline,"  263. 

Everett,  Edward,  211,  220,  223- 
224,  254. 

Fawcett,  Edgar,  410. 

"Federalist,  The,"  83. 

Federalists  and  Anti-Federalists, 
83,  95. 

Fiction,  Beginnings  of,  in 
America,  99;  "nightmare 
school"  of,  101;  universality 
of,  435. 

Field,  Eugene,  463. 

Fields,  James  T.,  196,  197,  255. 

Fields,  Mrs.  James  T.,  250. 

Fiske,  John,  quoted,  25,  64,  79, 
83,  215,  377;  historian,  378. 

Foote,  Mary  Halleck,  464. 

Ford,  Paul  Leicester,  457. 

Foster,  Stephen  Collins,  306. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  67-79,  86. 

"Freedom  of  the  Will"  (Ed 
wards),  45. 

French,  Alice  ("  Octave  Tha- 
net"),464. 

Freneau,  Philip,  89,  93-95. 

Fuller,  Henry  Blake,  465. 

Fuller,  Margaret,  161,  204,  269. 

Furness,  Horace  Howard,  425. 

Garland,  Hamlin,  458,  464. 
Garnett,  Richard,  quoted,  121. 
Garrison,  William    Lloyd,    209, 

211,  228,  234,  236. 
Gibbon,  353,  377. 
Gibson,  William  Hamilton,  483. 
Gilder,  Richard  Watson,  408. 
Gladstone,  80,  84. 
Godfrey,  Thomas,  55. 
Gookin,  Daniel,  32. 
Gosse,  Edmund,  quoted,  180,  296, 

318,  433. 


Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  380. 
Greeley,    Horace,    on    Franklin, 

77. 
Green,  John  Richard,  354. 

Hadley,  James,  425. 
"Hail  Columbia,"  88. 
Hale,  Edward  Everett,  452. 
Hall,  Judge  James,  126. 
Halleck,  Fitz-Greene,  137, 141. 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  79,  82-84, 

86. 

Hammond,  John,  22. 
Hancock,  John,  63,  64. 
Hardy,  Arthur  Sherburn,  456. 
Harris,  Joel  Chandler,  34,  304, 

339,  341-343. 

Harte,  Francis  Bret,  459-461. 
"  Hartford  Wits,"  The,  90,  95. 
Harvard  College,  24,  253. 
Hawthorne,  Julian,  456. 
Hawthorne,    Nathaniel,    12,   26, 

30,  36,  40,  91,  161,  175,  190-204, 

255,  264,  320,  414,  437. 
Hay,  John,  463. 
Hayne,  Paul  Hamilton,  323,  325- 

330,  333. 

Henry,  Patrick,  63,  65,  79,  208. 
"Hiawatha,"  264. 
Higginson,  Francis,  32,  35. 
Higginson,  Thomas  Wentworth, 

377,  419^21;  quoted,  102,  161, 

206,  223,  337,  443. 
Hildreth,  Richard,  349,  377. 
Hillhouse,  James  Abraham,  143. 
Hoffman,  James  Fenno,  142. 
Holland,  Josiah  Gilbert,  424. 
Holland,  W.  J.,  484. 
Holmes,  Abiel,  350. 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  52,  109, 

119,  172,  173,  176,  179,  224,  245, 

252,  254,  289-303,  410. 
Hooker,  Thomas,  34. 
Hopkinson,  Francis,  88,  89. 
Hopkinsou,  Joseph,  88. 


506 


INDEX 


"House  of  Seven  Gables,  The," 

194. 

Howe,  Mrs.  Julia  Ward,  409. 
Howells,  William  Dean,  252,  285, 

425,  438-445,  448,  453,  457. 
Hubbard,  William,  32. 
Hudson,  Henry  Norman,  425. 
Hume,  Influence  of,  67. 
Humor,  American,  422,  465-467. 
Humphreys,  David,  95. 
Hntchinson,  Thomas,  33. 
Hutton,  Richard    Holt,    quoted, 

202. 

Ingersoll,  Ernest,  481. 

"Ik  Marvel"   (D.  G.  Mitchell), 

423. 
Irving,  Washington,  96,  109,  110, 

111-123,  148,  379,  437. 

Jackson,  Helen  Hunt  ("  H.  H."), 

206. 
James,  Henry,  178,  200,  281,  287, 

425,  445-448. 

James  I,  and  the  Puritans,  23. 
Jay,  John, '79,  83,  86. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  65,  72,  79,  80- 

82,  86. 

Jefferies,  Richard,  474. 
Jewett,  Sarah  Orne,  250,  454. 
Johnson,  Dr.  Samuel,  61,  84. 
Johnson,  Edward,  32. 
Johnston,  Mary,  457. 
Johnston,  Richard  Malcolm,  338, 

346. 

Kennedy,  John  Pendleton,   126, 

306,  314. 

Key,  Francis  Scott,  88. 
King,  Captain  Charles,  464. 
King,  Grace,  347. 
Kirkland,  Mrs.  Caroline  M.,  126. 
"  Knickerbocker  Magazine,"  111. 
"  Knickerbocker's     History     of 

New  York,"  113. 
Knight,  Sarah  Kemble,  33. 


Lamb,  Charles,  104,  316,  413,421. 
Lanier,  Sidney,  323,  330-338,  426. 
Larcom,  Lucy,  454. 
Lathrop,  George  Parsons,  quoted, 

403. 
"  Leather  Stocking  Tales,"  147, 

148,  150. 

Lee,  Richard  Henry,  63,  65. 
Leland,  Charles  Godfrey,  409. 
Lewis    and     Clark    Expedition, 

107. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  76,  211,  228- 

230,  247,  292. 

Livingston,  William,  55,  96. 
Locke,  John,  Influence  of,  81. 
Lodge,  Henry  Cabot,  301,  425. 
Longfellow,  Henry   Wadsworth, 

30,  127,  238,  245,  254,  257-273, 

317. 
Longstreet,   Augustus    Baldwin, 

126,  305. 

Lounsberry,  Alice,  484. 
Lounsbury,  Thomas  Raynesford, 

151,  153,  154,  425. 
Lowell,  James  Russell,  254,  268, 

271,  274-289,  410;    quoted,   10, 

17,  55,  157,  162,   172,  175,  179, 

188,  198,  201,  237,  245,  267,  270, 

300,  316,  416. 
Loyalists,  The,  60. 

Mabie,     Hamilton    W.,    quoted, 

230. 

Macaulay,  348,  369,  412. 
Madison,  James,  79,  83,  86. 
"Magnalia  Christi  Americana" 

(Mather),  39,  47. 
"Marble  Faun,  The,"  195,  201, 

265. 

Marshall,  John,  379. 
Mason,  John,  32. 
"  Massachusetts     Bay,     History 

of"  (Hutchinson),  33. 
Mather.  Cotton,  38^2,  51,  179. 
Mather,  Increase,  37. 


INDEX 


507 


Matthews,  Brander,  quoted,  457. 
"  McFingal,"  Trumbull's,  89. 
McMaster,  John  Bach,  378. 
Melville,  Herman,  456. 
Miller,  Cincinuatus  Heine,  403. 
Miller,  Olive  Thome,  481. 
Mitchell,  Donald  Grant,  412,  423. 
Mitchell,  Dr.  S.  Weir,  457. 
Morris,  George  Perkins,  142,  157. 
Morton,  Nathaniel,  32. 
"  Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse," 

193,  199. 
Motley,  John  Lothrop,  349,  364- 

370. 

Muller,  Max,  quoted,  168. 
Murfree,  Mary  Noailles,  343. 

Neal,  John,  100. 

"New    England,    Chronological 

History  of"  (Prince),  27,  32. 
New  England,  Effect  of  Puritan 
ism  on,  47. 
"  New     England,    Good     News 

from  "  (Winslow),  32. 
"New    England,    History    of" 

(Winthrop),29. 
"  New  England  Primer,"  35. 
"  New     England's     Memorial " 

(Morton),  27,  32. 
"  New    England's     Plantation  " 

(Higginson) ,  32. 
"  New      England's      Prospect " 

(Wood),  32. 
Newspaper,  The,  211. 
Nichol's  "  American  Literature," 

quoted,  150. 
Norton,  Andrews,  167. 
Norton,  Charles  Eliot,  267,  287. 

O'Brien,  Fitz-James,  456. 
Odell,  Jonathan,  89. 
O'Hara,  Theodore,  306,  346. 
Oratory,    Political,    62;    of    the 
.  Revolution,  63. 
Otis,  James,  63, 79. 


Page,  Thomas  Nelson,  338,  339, 

344. 

Paine,  Robert  Treat,  88. 
Paine,  Thomas,  66. 
Palfrey,  John  Gorham,  167,  378. 
Parker,  Theodore,  161,  165-160. 
Parkman,  Francis,  242,  349,  370- 

377. 

Parton,  James,  222,  379. 
Paulding,  James  Kirke,  109,  124, 

126. 

Payne,  John  Howard,  99, 142. 
Peabody,  Elizabeth,  161. 
Peck,   Harry  Thurston,    quoted, 

220. 

Peck,  Samuel  Minturn,  410. 
Percival,  James  Gates,  143. 
Phelps-Ward,  Elizabeth  Stuart, 

454. 
Phillips,  Wendell,  52,  211,  225- 

227,  236. 

Piatt,  John  James,  463. 
Pierpont,  John,  143. 
Pike,  Albert,  306,  346. 
Pinkney,  Edward  Coate,  306. 
"  Plymouth  Plantation,  History 

of"  (Bradford),  27. 
Poe,  Edgar  Allan,  95,  111,  197, 

267,  310-322,  333,  437. 
Pope,   Alexander,    Influence    of, 

89,  94,  96. 
Prescott,  William  Hickling,  349, 

358-364. 

Preston,  Margaret  Junkin,  347. 
Prince,  Thomas,  27,  33. 
Puritanism  and  Art,  46,  48. 
Puritans,  The,  23,  24-26,  46. 

Quincy,  Josiah,  63,  64. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  16. 
Ramsay,  David,  350. 
Randall,  James  R.,  346. 
"Raven,  The,"  318. 
Read,  Thomas  Buchanan,  409. 


508 


INDEX 


Realism,  437,  440,  442,  447,  449, 
457. 

Richardson's  "  American  Litera 
ture,"  quoted,  95,  101,  153, 1(55, 
393,  422. 

Riley,  James  Whitcomb,  463. 

Ripley,  George,  161. 

Rives,  Ame'lie  (Princess  Trou- 
betskoy),  347. 

Robinson,  Rowland,  482. 

Rousseau,  Influence  of,  81. 

Rowlandson,  Mary,  32. 

Rowson,  Susanna,  99. 

Russell,  Irwin,  346. 

Ryan,  Abram  Joseph  ("  Father 
Ryan"),  346. 

Sandys,  George,  22. 

Sargent,  Epes,  144. 

Satire,  Political,  89,  95,  96,  124. 

Saxe,  John  Godfrey,  410. 

"Scarlet  Letter,  The,"  194,  198, 
200. 

Schouler,  James,  377. 

Schurz,  Carl,  quoted,  222,  229. 

Scollard,  Clinton,  410. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  95,  110,  113, 
115,  148. 

Scndder,  Horace  E.,  255. 

Sedgwick,  Catharine  Maria,  100, 
126. 

Seton-Thompson,  Ernest,  483. 

Sewall,  Samuel,  30,  257. 

Shakspere,  15,  22,  69,  115. 

Shelley,  and  Brown's  Novels, 
102. 

Shepard,  Thomas,  34. 

Sherman,  Frank  Demster,  410. 

Shillaber,  Benjamin  Penhallow 
("  Mrs.  Partington  ''),  468. 

Shorter,  Clement  K.,  on  the  in 
fluence  of  American  litera 
ture,  10. 

Sigourney,  Lydia  Huntley,  143. 

Sill,  Edward  Roland,  200. 


Simms     William    Gilmore,   126, 

306,  308-310,  323. 
"  Simple  Cobbler  of  Agawam," 

32. 

"  Sketch  Book,"  115. 
Smith,  Captain  John,  19-22. 
Smith,  Goldwin,  221. 
Smith,  Samuel  Francis,  144. 
Smith,  Seba,  467. 
Smith,  Sydney,  on  Franklin,  78. 
"  Snow-bound,"  239. 
Sparks,  Jared,  163,  254,  351-353. 
Spofford,  Harriet  Prescott,  455. 
Sprague,  Charles,  144. 
Stansbury, Joseph,  89. 
"  Star-spangled  Banner,"  88. 
Stedman,  Edmund  Clarence,  384, 

404-408,  410,  411;   quoted,  95, 

180,  282,  300,  319,  338,  426,  429, 

431. 

Stephen,  Leslie,  quoted,  202,  302. 
Stevenson,  Robert  Louis,  quoted, 

433. 

Stith,  William,  23. 
Stockton,  Francis  Richard,  451. 
Stoddard,     Elizabeth     Barstow, 

394. 
Stoddard,    Richard  Henry,  245, 

383,  394-398,  411. 
Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher,  247-251. 
Strachey,  William,  22. 
Street,  Alfred  Billings,  143. 
Stuart,  Gilbert,  98. 
Stuart,  Moses,  168. 
Sumner,  Charles,  211,  227-228. 
Swinburne,  337. 

"  Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn,"  266. 
Taylor,  Bayard,  334,  384-394, 411 ; 

quoted,  141,  201,  243,  286,  4".0. 
Tenney,  Tabitha,  99. 
Tennyson,  318. 
"  Tenth  Muse,  The,"  51. 
Terhune,  Mrs.  M.  V.  ("  Mario,n 

Harland"),347. 


INDEX 


Thackeray,  119,  147. 

"  Thanatopsis,"  128,  134. 

Thaxter,  Celia,  454. 

Thomas,  Edith  Matilda,  463. 

Thompson,  Maurice,  304,  346, 457. 

Thoreau,  Henry  David,  185-190, 

480. 

Thorpe,  Thomas  Bangs,  126. 
Tickuor,  Frank  O.,  346. 
Ticknor,  George,  254,  259,  379. 
Tiernan,  Frances  C.  ("  Christian 

Reid"),  347. 
Timrod,  Henry,  323-325. 
Torrey,  Bradford,  481. 
Transcendental  movement,   160, 

166. 

Trowbridge,  John  Townsend,  456. 
Trumbull,  John,  89. 
Tuckerman,     Henry     Theodore, 

143. 

"  Twain,  Mark,"  469. 
"Twice-told  Tales,"  192,  199. 
Tyler,  Moses  Coit,  quoted,  22,  27, 

32,  55,  60,  78,  93. 
Tyler,  Koyal,  98. 

"  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  247,  249. 
"  Under  the  Willows,"  281. 
Unitariauism,  160,  163,  167. 

Van  Dyke,  Henry,  483. 

Verplanck,  Gulian  Crommelin, 
143. 

Vers  de  Societe,  410. 

Very,  Jones,  205. 

"Virginia,  General  History  of" 
(Smith),  22. 

"Virginia,  Good  News  from" 
( Whitaker) ,  22. 

"Virginia,  History  of"  (Bev 
erly),  23. 

"Virginia,  History  of"  (Stith), 
23. 

"  Virginia,  The  Present  State  of " 
(Blair),  22. 


Virginia,  University  of,  80. 
"  Voices  of  Freedom,"  238. 
"  Voices  of  the  Night,"  261. 
Voltaire,  Influence  of,  67. 

"  Walden,"  186. 

Wallace,  Lew,  457. 

Ward,  Nathaniel,  32. 

Warner,   Charles    Dudley,     118 

122,  421-423. 
Warren,  Joseph,  63,  64. 
Washington,  George,  67,  83,  84, 

85,  111. 
Webster,  Daniel,   209,   210,   211, 

212-223,  277 ;  quoted,  61,  64,  86. 
Webster,  Noah,  103. 
Wendell,  Barrett,  40,  244,  256. 
West,  Benjamin,  98. 
West,  The,  growth  of,  107;    in 

literature,  458. 
Wheatley,  Phillis,  96. 
Whipple,  Edwin  P.,  425;  quoted, 

43,  85,  100,  167,  369,  421. 
Whitaker,  Alexander,  22. 
White,  Richard  Grant,  425. 
White's  "Selborne,"  189. 
Whitman,  Walt,  42fr434. 
Whitney,  William  Dwight,  425. 
Whittier,    John     Greenleaf,    40, 

104,  216,  232-247,  268,  271. 
Wiggin,  Kate  Douglas,  250. 
Wigglesworth,  Michael,  53-55. 
Wilde,  Richard  Henry,  305,  30(5. 
Wilkins,     Mary     Eleanor,    250, 

455. 

Williams,  Roger,  35. 
Willis,   Nathaniel  Parker,    155- 

159,  385. 

Wilson,  Alexander,  96. 
Winslow,  Edward,  32. 
Winsor,  Justin,  378. 
Winter,  William,  410. 
Winthrop,  John,  29,  349. 
Winthrop,  Robert  C.,  211,  225. 
Wiuthrop,  Theodore,  456. 


510 


INDEX 


Wirt,  William  ,379. 
Witchcraft,  31,  39. 
"  Wolfert's  Roost,"  116. 
Wollstonecraft,  Mary,  102. 
Woman,  in  literature,  453. 
Wood,  William,  32. 
Woodberry,     George     E.,     425; 

quoted,  239,  313,  321. 
Woods,  Leonard,  168. 


Woodworth,  Samuel,  142. 

Woolman,  John,  104. 

Woolsou,  Constance  Fenimore, 
464. 

Wordsworth,  98,  110,  128,  141, 
474. 

"Worthies  of  England"  (Full 
er)  ,  39. 

Wright,  Mabel  Osgood,  482. 


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